A sticking plaster': Labour's levelling up offer leaves Blackpool voters unmoved

"If Blackpool was a stick of rock, Little Layton would be a ribbon of pink in the middle. To its left, the deep red of rundown bedsits near the promenade. To its right, the plush green streets of Poulton Le Fylde, where 1m mansions overlook a well-tended golf club. That is to say, Little Layton is one of the nicer parts of Blackpool."

"For many in Little Layton, however, a bit of money to jazz up the high street would not necessarily sway their voting habits. They don't care if there's a new lamp-post or a flower basket, said Jakki Garner, 61, a former English teacher who teaches cooking at Layton Together, a community project. Parents can't buy shoes for their children or winter coats because they're spending all their money on food."

"Mark Walmsley, 45, the chair of Layton Together, welcomed the money and hopes it could be used open a youth club long planned for the area. It's a good idea if the decisions are made locally, he said. That's the key. The scheme, announced on Thursday, will see communities handed powers to seize boarded-up shops and buy beloved local assets like libraries and cinemas. It was, said the prime minister, a plan for choosing unity over division and backing the true patriots at local level."

Little Layton is described as a relatively well-kept part of Blackpool situated between rundown bedsits and affluent Poulton Le Fylde. The government will allocate up to 20m to 169 places across the UK over 10 years from a 5bn Levelling Up programme to improve parks, pubs and public buildings. Labour hopes the fund, nicknamed Levelling Up 2.0, will curb support for Nigel Farage's Reform UK in targeted areas. Local residents warn that small cosmetic projects will not address acute hardship, while community leaders welcome funding if local decision-making enables projects like a planned youth club. The scheme gives communities powers to buy or reclaim local assets, and the prime minister framed the plan as choosing unity over division.

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