Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

City council leader disappointed Chancellor didn’t find time to talk

Chancellor Philip Hammond is shown around a lab by Professor Paul Wyatt (left) during a visit to Dundee University's School of Life Sciences.
Chancellor Philip Hammond is shown around a lab by Professor Paul Wyatt (left) during a visit to Dundee University's School of Life Sciences.

The leader of Dundee City Council’s SNP administration has expressed his “disappointment” after being snubbed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Phillip Hammond MP visited the city on Monday morning, meeting with business leaders, university chiefs and other assorted parties.

Councillor John Alexander, who heads the city’s council administration, had written to Mr Hammond asking to meet with him to discuss matters including the impending Tay Cities Deal and the Dundee 2023 European Capital of Culture bid.

Mr Hammond, who has become embroiled in a leadership battle in the Conservative party after he refused to say whether he would support Prime Minister Theresa May at the next general election, said he was “very enthusiastic” about the prospects of the Cities Deal coming to fruition.

The proposed deal, which could create up to 15,000 jobs in Tayside and north Fife, has been put together by the four councils involved but requires ÂŁ826 million funding from both the Scottish and UK governments to support it.

Mr Alexander said he was “pleased” to hear of the Chancellor’s enthusiasm and hoped it would be translated into action and that the deal would be enacted as soon as possible.

He said: “I am pleased to hear that the city’s reputation is reaching far and wide, with the Chancellor recognising the aspiration of the city and its success in areas such as the creative industries.

“Of course, I am disappointed that the Chancellor was unable to meet with me as requested, even briefly, to discuss issues which I’d hope were of shared importance.

“I’ll be writing to invite him back to our fantastic city to discuss our economic plans which include becoming a UK centre for decommissioning, our culture ambition including Dundee’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2023 and the Tay Cities Deal.

“The Tay Cities Deal is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring about real and lasting change, so I am pleased to hear Mr Hammond’s comments regarding the need to use the UK Government’s ‘broad shoulders’. That must be delivered and I hope that the UK Government will put these warm words into real resource which will support this whole region.

“I also hope that the deal will be proportional — in terms of the needs of people in Tayside, the realities of the local economy compared to other city deal areas and the transformative power of the projects contained within the bid.

“It shouldn’t simply be a numbers game as I think there’s no denying that the need to allow the local economy to flourish and develop is far greater than some other areas within the UK, and our bid has the power to do significantly more to the future prospects of this region.”