WITHOUT a European Union £929m invest-ment programme, Liverpool would have been “written off”, it was claimed yesterday.

North West Minister Phil Woolas said the effect of not securing Objective 1 funding for Merseyside would have been disastrous.

He was speaking at an event to celebrate the programme.

“The big point of Objective 1 is actually what would it have been like if we had not got it,” he said.

“My guess is that it would have been pretty disastrous, and Merseyside would not be in the position it is in today.

“The population would probably have been 10% to 20% less than it is.

“Investment would have probably been half what it is, and the city would have been written off. Because it lost confidence in the 1980s, people had lost confidence in it.

“Objective 1 has meant that we have been able to get money from right across the European Union to create a prosperous trading partner.”

Objective 1 contributed funds to more than 1,802 projects between 2000 and 2008.