Dunfermline MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville sounds cash warning

And the city's SNP MSP, Shirley-Anne Somerville, is worried we could lose out after Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said that already announced projects "may or may not happen".

She said: "This potential loss of millions of pounds in funding for Dunfermline is hugely concerning.

"For everyone involved in the local projects awarded funding, this would be seen as a severe blow."

In the Spring budget Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt made the surprise announcement that Dunfermline was getting £5m they hadn't applied for from the UK Government's Levelling Up fund.

Dunfermline MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville. (Image: Supplied)

In May Fife Council leader David Ross described the process as a "bit of a shambles" but said they weren't going to turn down the money.

Councillors agreed to spend £5m on four projects: "new cultural spaces" at St Margaret's House and Tower House; restoring the B-listed Fire Station Creative building; and creating a new amphitheatre at Dunfermline Learning Campus for outdoor performances by schools and the college.

Following the general election in July, Labour took control at Westminster and there's now concern they could claw back millions of pounds promised to Scotland by Rishi Sunak’s government.

Mr Murray said many of the funding promises by the last prime minister “didn't have any cash attached".

Ms Somerville has called on the new Dunfermline and Dollar Labour MP to "fight for our city".

She said: "Clearly, Graeme Downie must reject any attempt by his Labour colleagues to pull vital investment out of Dunfermline.

"If he will not fight for our city to protect £5m in funding, then people will rightly be left wondering; what is he actually offering as my MP?

"Taking money out of Dunfermline is certainly not the 'change' Labour were promising to voters during the general election campaign."

Dunfermline and Dollar MP Graeme Downie. (Image: Supplied)

Mr Downie said: "The £5m cultural funding for Dunfermline was one of the first I raised after I was elected. 

"What we now know is that the last Tory government made that commitment with no actual funding attached to it. 

"It literally wasn't worth the paper the press release was written on. 

"That kind of financial competence is only matched by the SNP who just these week sought to break their own manifesto promise on delivering free school meals after 17 years of financial mismanagement at Holyrood. 

"I will be continuing to work with the Labour government to deliver for Dunfermline but unlike both the Conservatives and the SNP at Holyrood, this Labour government is not going to make funding promises we can't keep.”

Concern about Dunfermline losing out arose after Mr Murray was asked if spending commitments made by the previous government were being reassessed.

He had replied: “Yes, a lot of this stuff is all under review.

“It will all be announced in the budget and in the spending review, both for this next financial year and the three-year spending review that will happen in April next year.

“So everything is under review, yes, because a lot of the stuff that was promised didn't have any cash attached to it.”

Mr Murray added: "We're trying to be honest with the public and say, look, some of these projects, of course, they're all under review, and some of these projects may or may not happen, depending on where the Chancellor goes on October 30.

“And I think that's the honest thing to say to the public, because that £22 billion black hole is real.

"It's not some arbitrary figure that's been plucked out of the air, and the challenges around public finances are very, very real.”