Precisely. The UK government, not the EU. That's a good reason, and why many of us voted to leave.
Yes, neglect because successive governments were too concerned with 'Being at the Top Table' in Europe, exercising power and influence in EU policy making and generally 'Being at the Heart of Europe' (in all of which they largely fell short of their objectives) while all the while ignoring what was going on back home, right under their feet (but outside the M25 to a large extent too!)
Which doesn't seem to have cut much ice in the areas that voted for Brexit. Perhaps the investment was poorly targeted, or mismanaged, or just didn't trickle down past the people who got first dibs in the trough. Anyway, that's an economic argument, and one thing everyone should have learned from Brexit is that using economic arguments was a loser.
Yet Germany has managed all this including absorbing an entire nation into the Republik whilst being in the EU. Makes you wonder doesn't?