The Guardian view on deprived neighbourhoods: incomes as well as places need a boost | Editorial

"What does it mean for a neighbourhood to be poor? Since the 1970s, the UK government has regularly sought to answer this question by pulling together a range of statistics about the people who live there. The aim is to enable funding to be directed where it is most needed, and to make possible place-based initiatives alongside those aimed at individuals or households."

"For a Labour government trailing Reform UK in the polls, the latest data which is weighted towards income and employment, but also includes health and educational outcomes should serve as a wake-up call. Virtually all the areas in England either trapped in the most deprived, or climbing up the ranks to join them, are in the party's urban or post-industrial heartlands."

"Analysis by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods shows that investment in the north-east during this parliament will be seven times higher than it was under Boris Johnson, if current trends continue. Labour's successor scheme, Pride in Place, will see 169 communities in England receive 20m each. Its goal is the kind of tangible improvements youth clubs, prospering high streets and so on that could boost trust in politics along with morale, and help lessen the appeal of outrage-fuelled populists."

Since the 1970s the UK government has compiled neighbourhood statistics to target funding and enable place-based initiatives alongside household policies. The latest index of multiple deprivation emphasizes income and employment while also including health and educational outcomes. The most deprived areas are concentrated in urban and post-industrial heartlands, with Jaywick & St Osyth and multiple Blackpool neighbourhoods among the worst affected and towns such as Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Hull and Manchester featuring heavily. Millions remain trapped in persistent deprivation. Recent and planned investment, including Pride in Place, aims to deliver tangible local improvements and boost trust.

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