THE shock implications of Brexit for Worcestershire can today be revealed - with fears £25 MILLION could go begging.

Last month's sensational EU referendum vote has led to Government figures anxiously trying to establish what it means for the economy.

This newspaper can today reveal how a whopping £52 million of European cash was promised to this county before the vote, but £25.5 million of that has yet to be spent.

The 'at risk' cash includes crucial investment into new businesses, farmers, improving people's skills and creating employment opportunities.

Council chiefs and business leaders now face a race against time to spend as much of the cash as possible, saying the 'at risk' element of the money is likely to reduce the longer Brexit takes.

But there are no guarantees that Worcestershire will not end up many millions out of pocket once Article 50 - the process for exiting the EU - is triggered by Prime Minister Theresa May.

Mrs May is being tipped to trigger Article 50 within six months, as officials have started early talks about trade deals with other countries on the basis Britain will be out the EU by January 1, 2019.

The £52 million award is known as 'European Structural and Investment Fund' money, with Worcestershire's sum due to be spent for the period between 2014 and 2020.

In a bid to make sure it is spent fairly and wisely, the cash is dished out via a complex committee overseen by the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and council chiefs.

The vast funding is meant to touch all areas of life, from new start-up firms in rural areas to colleges looking to train up workers, university researchers, medium-sized enterprises looking to expand, environmental initiatives and much more.

Some sources say county leaders are privately desperate to earmark as much of the money as possible, but admit it is "difficult to be absolute" on how much could be taken away by Eurocrats once the UK formally starts Brexit.

In theory, more than half of the money could be ‘spent’ by then – but there are also other EU pots Worcestershire benefits from on top of the main structural funding, not to mention the University of Worcester’s position.

Gary Woodman, from the LEP, said: "Since the vote to leave the EU, we're working with the Government to understand what this means for the future of the national EU funding programme, and in particular the funds which are yet to be allocated within the county.

"These funds are crucial in supporting the county's organisations and businesses, and at present it is business as usual."

He said the LEP was still openly calling for organisations to bid for the cash despite the uncertainty.

Some of the ‘open calls’ for bids currently include money for organisations to improve access to IT, projects to boost rural tourism, business advice to small and medium-sized firms and help for farmers to diversify – all from the pockets of the EU.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader of Worcestershire County Council, said: "As an organisation we will continue our planned investments and if there's an issue, we will deal with it at the time.

"We're still paying into the EU and will still be able to withdraw money from it until that ceases to be the case.

"We intend to offer resolute leadership - until the Government triggers Article 50 we could be halfway through that four or five-year plan."

The possible Brexit impact to Worcestershire was also picked up on during a meeting at County Hall last week, where Councillor Ken Pollock, the cabinet member for economy, skills and infrastructure, insisted it would be very difficult to put a firm estimate on it.

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