Mystery about how Brexit will hit the coffers of a Teesside council has prompted pleas for answers from the Government.

Responding to the coronavirus crisis has taken up most of the attention of authority chiefs in 2020.

But council account sheets still indicate the situation is unclear when it comes how the UKs exit from the European Union will impact local authorities.

Middlesbrough Councils draft accounts for 2019/20 showed how covid-19 has superseded Brexit during the first half of this year.

However, officials have warned the countrys future relationship with the European Union was still unclear.

The report added: Planning still continues within the council - particularly around a 'no deal' scenario with contingency plans already developed

What the eventual agreed arrangement will be, and what this might mean in financial terms, subsequent risks and impacts on the councils budget, and (its) financial plans are still unclear.

Labour councillor Denise Rooney asked about the risks Brexit could bring to the authority at the latest corporate audit and governance committee.

Council accounts chief Justin Weston said Brexit had taken a back seat but hadnt had a massive impact on the councils finances in 2019/20.

However, Cllr Teresa Higgins feared there was no detail of what was replacing EU funding in the region.

Its been promised for years and its so important for the Tees Valley, she said.

We need to find out where the Government is going to produce money - particularly in the Tees Valley.

We got quite a lot of money and thats going to stop - Im a bit concerned there is still no detail of a replacement."

The Labour councillor later added: I understand theyve found a few money trees - I wish theyd shake a few branches down this end.

The Tees Valley was allocated 173m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) between 2014 and 2020.

This saw the region rank among the top in the UK for EU funding.

The UK formally left the European Union on January 31 and is still in an 11-month transition period.

This is set to end on December 31 when a new trading relationship will begin under a new UK-EU deal, or there will be a no deal scenario if no agreement is reached.

Negotiations are continuing.

When it came to future funding after Brexit, the Government says a Shared Prosperity Fund will replace EU structural funding in a bid to tackle deprivation over a number of years.

Meanwhile, the UK will continue to be part of EU programmes in the wider Multi-annual Financial Framework in the coming years.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: We have left the EU, but we continue to participate in EU funding programmes as these wind down.

Projects will receive funding until the end of the current programme in 2023.

We will target the UK Shared Prosperity Fund at the UKs specific needs, and will, at a minimum, match the size of European structural funds in all four nations.

We are working closely with interested parties across the country as we develop this fund and to allocate all remaining EU funding.

Figures from the House of Commons library showed the Redcar constituency backed Leaving the EU most strongly on Teesside in 2016 - with 67.7% voting for Brexit.

Middlesbrough (64.5%), Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (65.3%) and Stockton North (66.3%) and Stockton South (57.8%) were all above the national average for voting leave.

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As covid-19 continues to bite, council turns attention to Brexit and 'mystery' over funding - Teesside Live