Sometimes local differences have to be put to one side in order to submit a stronger bid. After all what counts is that local people benefit in the competition for limited funds. And so it was with the Levelling Up bids. But who gets the credit for a winning bid? 

You might assume councillors would want to do their best for their constituents irrespective of which party they voted for and in my experience they do. They just don’t want the opposition to get the credit! This was vividly illustrated to me when my staff were successful in bidding for a large government improvement and refurbishment grant for the some of the  council’s libraries. The relevant Cabinet member was very pleased and congratulated officers; that is until they read the committee report prepared for Cabinet and saw the list of libraries to be refurbished. They were appalled that a number of libraries on the list were in opposition wards! It was explained that these were the libraries that met the criteria set by central government and identified in the successful bid. The Cabinet member just could not stomach the idea of a photo opportunity for opposition members.