Make business support a priority for jobs and growth

European structural funds were born 47 years ago and places like Lancashire started on a path that was to bring millions of pounds of investment into business support.

This European money powered regeneration, business start-ups, scale ups and specialist support and drove economic growth.

Whether administered by the Regional Development Agencies, Business Links or Lancashire County Council, it gave us support such as Boost - there to give all businesses a leg-up.

But times are a changing and with our exit from Europe this funding will soon be no more, and is set to be replaced by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund - being handled by the first time by local district councils.

The district councils have been given funding directly from government to spend on local communities and places, supporting local businesses, people and skills.

They are understandably delighted to have some investment to spend on their towns and in their villages. But we must encourage them to put some of that money into business support.

Otherwise, we face a future of postcode lotteries again - with firms on one side of the street eligible and, on the other, nothing for someone wanting to start or grow a business and create jobs.

These are not far distant corporations, these are local firms giving jobs to our neighbours, our children, our friends.

Business support such as Boost, and so many other specialist projects, is essential as stimulation for all those trying to create prosperous companies which ultimately deliver business rates back to those local district councils to fund everything else.

If we don’t fund business support, we run the risk that in future years, those businesses will not be there, and with them gone, so will be those business rates, jobs and all our aspirations for the future.