Red Wall areas ‘most exposed to prices crisis’

Rankings reveal impact of rising costs

RED WALL areas in Yorkshire including Bradford, Doncaster and Rotherham are among the places most exposed to the growing cost-of-living crisis, new research has suggested.

The Centre for Progressive Policy think tank said the three local authority areas – which all saw Conservative MPs elected in previously long-held Labour seats in 2019 – are among the top 20 places in the country due to be worst affected by rising prices.

Hull, which has no Conservative MPs, is second in the national list – with Middlesbrough top.

The rankings are based on a system called the ‘Cost of Living Vulnerability Index’ which assess factors such as the local prevalence of fuel poverty, economic inactivity and low pay.

Nationally, 16 out of the 31 (52 per cent) local authority areas set to be worst hit by the cost of living crisis contain Red Wall seats.

The think tank identifies local authorities as part of the Red Wall if they contain most of the population of a constituency in the North or Midlands that went

from Labour to Tory in or since the 2019 election.

Ben Franklin, Director at CPP, said: “Voters on low pay, experiencing food and fuel poverty or pushed out of work altogether, are on the margins of extreme vulnerability – but they are also in many of our most marginal seats. That adds political saliency to the urgent moral case for addressing the cost of living crisis.

“Levelling up slogans will be dead on arrival at the next election unless the Government reconsiders its policy options.

“Last month’s Spring Statement saw poorly targeted tinkering at the edges of the tax system, whereas our analysis suggests the Chancellor may be forced to reconsider a UC uplift to really help those hit hardest in places like Hartlepool and Hastings.”

The report follows the Office for Budget Responsibility stating that the next 12 months will see biggest fall in living standards since records began in the mid1950s.

Lisa Nandy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, said: “This new research reveals the inadequacy of the Government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis facing families. We need to get money back into people’s pockets.

“Many of the places being hit hardest are in the North and Midlands. This is the opposite of levelling up. You can only level up if people have money to spend in their local communities.”