CAMPAIGNERS have raised concerns the UK Government’s plans for replacing European funding will fail to deliver for Scotland’s rural and island communities.

The Shared Prosperity Fund is being directly administered by Westminster in a move described as a “power grab” by the SNP.

It will be launched next year to replace European Commission development and social fund grants following Brexit.

However, the £220 million Community Renewal Fund introduced as a pilot to the scheme has failed to include the Highlands or Orkney and Shetland on a list of 100 “priority places” across the UK.

The Scottish Islands Federation (SIF), which promotes the interests of Scotland’s 93 inhabited islands, says that EU structural funds have been a significant driver of transforming the economic and social wellbeing of the Highlands and Islands.

But it says there is now a lack of clarity over what constitutes “domestic priorities” by the UK Government and whether it will address island issues.

Camille Dressler, chair of the SIF, said: “In our area, for instance, the piers and ferry for the Small Isles were partly funded by European regional funds.

“Roads, tourism development – all these things have been done thanks to European funding.”

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Last week, Highland Council announced it is working on bids to the Community Renewal Fund, which have to be submitted by June 18. Councillor Margaret Davidson, leader of Highland Council, said there were “real concerns” over the metrics being used to determine the area’s ranking for the funds, which had been raised with UK ministers.

Theona Morrison, acting chair of charity Scottish Rural Action, said recent surveys had shown rural and island communities want greater empowerment.

She said: “Scotland’s land mass is 98% rural with just 17% of the population. Scottish Rural Action works for the voice of the few to be recognised and heard.

“If it is a task enough to articulate the profile of rural Scotland to an urban centre, how staggeringly alarming is the prospect to have to make the case for funding on a UK-wide platform where perhaps aspirations for and perceptions of rural and island Scotland may differ from those who actually live and work in rural and island Scotland.”

SNP MP Mhairi Black said it was “becoming ever clearer” that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a “blatant power grab” on Holyrood.

She said: “As part of the EU, Scotland received funding and we were in a position to allocate it towards key priorities of Scotland’s elected Government and our communities.

“Now, as the warnings make clear, this is under threat from Westminster.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government did not respond to a request for comment.