I am grateful for the opportunity to hold the final Adjournment debate of 2025. I thank everyone for staying behind to join me, and I thank the Minister as well. From what I have seen in the headlines, I believe she had a busy morning.
People in Blackpool often feel forgotten by national politics, so it matters that their experience is the last issue debated in this Chamber before Christmas. Whereas colleagues in the House will be returning home to spend time with their families, this time of year is a period of struggle, rather than celebration, for many in my constituency.
Throughout 2025, this Government have begun to show Blackpool that they understand the scale of our challenges, but belief takes time when a place has for so long been held up as a symbol of decline, a poster child for deprivation and a stark reflection of the pressures facing our country as a whole. I hope the Minister will join me in demonstrating to my home town that it is not forgotten, and it is no accident that we have saved this issue till last.
In October, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government updated the English indices of deprivation for the first time since 2019, marking a rare and important moment to reassess Government action. The indices rank small areas in England according to deprivation across multiple domains. They look beyond income alone, taking account of housing, access to services, education, employment, health, crime and the living environment. Although it may feel like it for local people when their town is splashed across newspaper headlines, the indices are not a league table for shame; they are a tool for targeting Government action. If the 2025 indices do just one thing, they should convince the Government that action must focus on Blackpool.
The new indices show that neighbourhoods in Stafford, including Highfields, Penkside, Rising Brook and Stafford Central, sit among the bottom 10% to 20% of the most deprived areas in the country. However, the depth of need is often masked at local authority level by more affluent parts of the borough. Recent data shows that Stafford Central is in the bottom 2% nationally for health need. Does my hon. Friend agree that such indices, alongside wider health data, give the Government a clear opportunity to target our record investment in healthcare, education and local government at neighbourhoods with the greatest need, including pockets of deprivation in otherwise affluent areas?
I completely agree, and the Pride in Place scheme is a great start. I will come on to that later, but I want to see it expanded to many more of our communities, based on the new indices.
If we can turn around a town that contains seven of the 10 most deprived areas of the country, and 10 in the top 20, we can turn around the fortunes of the country. Rather than being a poster child for deprivation, Blackpool, where 38% of adults live in the top 10% of the most deprived areas in England, can be a poster child for renewal.
My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time. Not only do seven of the 10 most deprived areas appear to be in Blackpool, but all 10 of the top 10 are in coastal communities, as are 50% of the top 50. We who represent coastal communities do not want to indulge in any kind of deprivation bingo. Instead, we want the Government, and indeed the private sector, to see the potential to invest, given the untapped talent of our workforce, the energy of our entrepreneurs and our extraordinary natural environment. Does he agree that an economic regeneration strategy that is designed for coastal communities could transform our country?
I absolutely agree, and that is why my hon. Friend and I, along with many others, have been pushing for a coastal communities Minister to address that need and bring in all corners of Government to tackle the problems we face in those communities.
Put simply, when Blackpool succeeds, Britain succeeds. The IoD’s income deprivation domain measures the proportion of people reliant on means-tested benefits. It captures not just poverty but how close people are to crisis. In Blackpool, income deprivation is deeply entrenched and a daily reality for many, such as Leanne, who contacted me after having her benefits sanctioned. Despite keeping in touch with her work coach about her father’s illness, she missed an appointment when he passed away and was dealt a second blow. It took two months and intervention from me and my office to get her benefits reinstated. In the interim, she was denied a hardship payment and had no food or heating. That is what income deprivation looks like in the real world—not poor budgeting, but families with no safety net when life throws them a shock.
Of course, income deprivation overlaps with employment deprivation, and Blackpool is one of nine local authorities in England ranked among the most deprived on both measures. The IoD’s employment domain measures people who want to work but cannot, due to a lack of opportunities, caring responsibilities, disability or ill health. Employment deprivation is more pronounced in Blackpool, where our labour market is seasonal, insecure, tourism-reliant, low paid and low skilled.
Blackpool council, alongside our tourism industry, has worked hard to extend our offer beyond the summer months, as is visible on our promenade today, with our fantastic Christmas By The Sea festival. But more must be done for people like Noreen, whose autistic son regularly reaches interviews but never secures work, and Rob, who was self-employed when he had a serious accident and faced a 13-week wait for financial support. These are the real lives behind our employment deprivation scores.
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing the stories of real lives into the debate. When we talk about deprivation, indices and statistics, we can so easily forget that behind every number are people’s lives—lives that should have promise and that deserve the support of this Government. I place on record my thanks to my hon. Friend for making sure that we do not lose sight of what we are really talking about: people’s lives.
I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words; I think we all know it across the parties in this House. We see it in our mailbags every week, in our casework and from the thousands and thousands of individuals who reach out to us for help when they have nowhere else to turn.
Aspiration is not the problem. In February, I hosted Blackpool’s biggest ever jobs fair, welcoming 4,000 jobseekers and over 100 employers, with more than 1,500 roles on offer. Five hundred positions were filled on the day and another 500 positions were filled later on. The indices highlight a lack of good jobs, not a lack of work ethic.
Meanwhile, the IoD’s education domain captures how disadvantage reproduces itself in Blackpool. Residents are concerned about access to quality education, SEND support, post-16 pathways, adult literacy, mental health in schools and workplaces, and the impact of deprivation on learning. These are the mechanisms by which neighbourhoods remain at the bottom of indices for generations.
This February, I will host my jobs fair again, with a sharper focus on career pathways and quality employment, showing what local employers, community partners and political will can achieve. But even with the greatest opportunities on our doorstep, residents are on the back foot from childhood, with disadvantaged school pupils falling furthest behind. Just over half of Blackpool pupils achieve expected standards at key stage 2. At GCSE, Blackpool’s average Attainment 8 score is among the lowest in the country.
Fewer than half our young people achieve a strong pass in English and maths, compared with nearly two thirds nationally.
The indices’ health deprivation and disability domain measures premature deaths, hospital admissions, disability and mental ill health. Some 58.5% of neighbourhoods in Blackpool fall within the 10% most deprived nationally on this measure. Men in Blackpool have the lowest life expectancy in England, with our current toddlers, my son included, not expected to reach the age of 74—a decade less than their peers in Hampshire. I am not going to let that stand.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool South (Chris Webb) for securing this important debate, for the eloquent and passionate way that he talks about the issues in Blackpool, and for the powerful way that he champions voices from his community. I concur completely that his community will never be forgotten by this Labour Government.
Coastal communities such as Blackpool are a vital part of our national identity, serving as a reminder of our national pride and shared maritime history. However, we know that behind these places lies another story, as my hon. Friend has rightly pointed out. The new indices of multiple deprivation show the challenges faced by all areas across the country, but particularly by coastal communities, which feature as a distinct category of concentrated deprivation in England. Blackpool features prominently in the new indices of deprivation, as my hon. Friend has demonstrated; seven of its areas are among the 10 most deprived neighbourhoods nationally. That is a sobering statistic that shines a spotlight on the issues that my hon. Friend has highlighted.
My Government are acutely aware of the multidimensional challenges that these communities face, and we are committed to doing our part to reverse them. The Government’s mission is to tackle inequality and unlock the full potential of all our communities, including those like Blackpool, to ensure that they play a vital role in our economy and our future, and so that they are not held back.
Through long-overdue reforms to the local government finance system, we will redirect around £2 billion of funding to places and communities that need it most, enabling councils to reliably deliver for their residents. Blackpool, for example, will see an 11% increase in its core spending power between 2025-26 and ’28-29, but we recognise that more needs to be done to reverse a decade and a half of under-investment in my hon. Friend’s community. We also recognise that delivery costs vary across the country, with deprivation, remoteness, variance in the ability to raise tax locally and the impact of commuters and tourists all affecting how hard it can be to deliver services in seaside towns like Blackpool. That is why we are committed to ensuring that these factors are accounted for in future funding allocations.
For the final time this year, at the end of the final Adjournment debate of 2025, I shall put the Question that this House do now adjourn. Happy Christmas, everybody.
Question put and agreed to.
5:24 pm
House adjourned.
Severe mental illness rates are shockingly high: in 2018-19, more than 500 people were admitted to hospital for intentional self-harm, and suicide rates among men were the second highest in the country. By 2022-23, Blackpool had the highest prevalence of GP-diagnosed depression in England, and 6,300 people are now claiming personal independence payment for psychiatric disorders—the highest level in Lancashire and in the top 10 nationally.
Health services are at breaking point, and there is a clear human impact—like there was for Jamie Pearson, who tragically took his own life in Blackpool hospital, after waiting nearly 24 hours in A&E during a mental health crisis. Every day I deal with constituents battling to access not only mental health support but a dentist, a GP or hospital care.
People turn to me when there is nowhere left to turn to—people like Steven, himself a mental health nurse, who contacted me after developing serious neurological symptoms. Despite repeated warnings, his first neurology appointment is scheduled for October 2026. This case of a frontline worker who wants to work and support our NHS, but is being failed by it, demonstrates how poor health, economic inactivity and deprivation reinforce one another.
The indices of deprivation crime domain shows that crime and antisocial behaviour are concentrated in areas of multiple deprivation. Similarly, a recent report by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods notes that crime persists in areas facing persistent poverty, under-investment and neglect. In such places, residents report concerns about antisocial behaviour, illegal drugs and safety, and feel less connected and optimistic—people like Chantelle, who endured two years of threats and antisocial behaviour in Bloomfield, a neighbourhood ranked 12th out of 33,755 neighbourhoods of the indices of deprivation. Despite repeated police involvement, she and her neighbours felt unsafe, but could not move because of financial barriers.
We also know what works. In Brunswick ward, which is within the ninth most deprived neighbourhood nationally, Blackpool’s multi-agency youth antisocial behaviour working group reduced youth-related incidents by 45% through targeted interventions, alongside the work of the brilliant PACT—police and communities together—meetings led by Brian Robinson. Scaling up that approach, with co-ordinated, cross-Government strategies and devolved funding, can make deprived neighbourhoods safer, stronger and more connected.
Perhaps the biggest problem that this Government could tackle to improve life for my constituents is housing, which directly impacts poverty, health, education, employment and so much more. The IOD’s barriers to housing and services domain captures affordability and access, while the living environment domain measures housing quality, air quality and road safety. More than one in four cases that my office handles relates to housing or the living environment, because poor housing and unhealthy environments reinforce disadvantage at every turn.
Blackpool council has done some good work building new council houses in areas such as Grange Park, where my grandparents, Dougie and Maggie, were some of the first to collect their keys when the post-war estate was built. Now, new generations of families have the same opportunity to have quality, secure homes, but we still have a huge shortage: a stock of only 5,000 social homes and 12,000 people on the waiting list. More than 20,000 households privately rent, many in properties well below standard, and thousands live in damp and unsafe conditions.
Chelsea was seven months pregnant when she was served with a section 21 notice. She could not raise a deposit for other private rentals, and her bid for social housing was unsuccessful. Saleem lost a leg and was forced into a care home, separated from his family for almost a year because there were no adapted homes available. Meanwhile, Tia and her two young children were placed in a B&B with no cooking facilities, where her baby’s health deteriorated. I see these situations every day.
Investment in homes and streets is not a luxury; it is the foundation for better lives, safer communities and opportunities. Recent Pride in Place funding offers hope but, as I told the Secretary of State just the other week, one scheme is not enough. Blackpool is suited to multiple, targeted, place-based interventions to address housing, the environment and opportunities. It is also exactly the kind of place that should have benefited from the Government’s new fair funding formula. Instead, the local government finance settlement will potentially harm some of the most deprived communities further.
My council also informs me that the new formula disproportionately penalises deprived northern and coastal towns. We need a fair, progressive new system if we are to radically change lives. I will work with the Department further in the run-up to February to see what more can be done.
Overall, 82% of neighbourhoods in the most deprived decile in 2025 were also there in 2019. Only a handful of constituencies have shifted position at either end of the scale. It is clear from these statistics that we must do something different to tackle entrenched deprivation. We must put our money where our mouth is with targeted, long-term, place-based investment, guided by the indices. Moving beyond short-term pots to multi-year investment, tied to measurable outcomes like better jobs, improved health, higher educational attainment and a narrowing of the life expectancy gap, is essential, and that must be done on a scale that meets the extent of the problem.
Blackpool has enormous pride and potential. Despite the challenges captured in the statistics, people in our town will not be defined by them. Our communities are strong, our young people are ambitious, and our organisations drive change every day. This spirit of resilience and determination is the foundation on which renewal can be built. With the right support, investment and political will, that local energy can be harnessed to transform opportunity, improve lives and rewrite the story of our town. The people of Blackpool are doing their bit and, by showing us where the need is greatest, the indices have done theirs; now the Government must do their bit, too. With enough political will, Blackpool does not have to be a poster child for deprivation; it can be the poster child for renewal. If the Government can turn around Blackpool, they can turn around the country, and if Blackpool succeeds, Britain succeeds.
I take this opportunity to thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, as well as Mr Speaker and the other Deputy Speakers, alongside all the staff in this place, but especially the staff in my office—Wendy, Holly, Antonia, Kate, Luke, Grace and Amber—for all their work. I wish all staff and all Members across this House a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.
We are also delivering a wide range of programmes to address economic, social and health disparities across the country. Our £5 billion Pride in Place programme, which my hon. Friend spoke about, will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade to 244 deprived communities. Little Layton and Little Carleton in Blackpool South will receive up to £20 million in funding over 10 years. Fleetwood town in Blackpool North and Fleetwood will also receive up to £20 million over the next 10 years. That funding will be used by each local community, based on its set priorities, to lift up the community, invest in regeneration plans and build community wealth.
Across the country, the Pride in Place programme will help communities improve cultural venues, health and wellbeing services, and local infrastructure. It will champion local leadership, foster community engagement and strengthen social cohesion. It will also give people agency, voice and power to drive the change they want to see in their places. We are also providing funding to Blackpool through our Pride in Place impact fund, which will provide £1.5 million of investment over the next two years to restore pride in place, support communities and stimulate local economic activity through visible, short-term, community-led improvements.
My hon. Friend raised the critical challenge of housing. He is right that good, decent housing is foundational; it is the rock on which people can build a life and get ahead. The Government understand the need to build more homes, and more social housing in particular. That is why we have outlined a plan to support the largest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation and transform the safety and quality of existing social homes. A new 10-year, £39-billion social and affordable homes programme has also been confirmed —the largest long-term investment in social housing in recent memory. That is an important first step, but we know that more needs to be done.
Tackling deprivation is the work of the whole Government. My Department will play its part, but it is an endeavour across every single Department, with a range of targeted measures across health, poverty, employment and antisocial behaviour. Over 1 million children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of the Government’s historic child poverty strategy, which tackles the root causes of poverty by cutting the cost of essentials, boosting family incomes and improving local services so that every child has the best start in life.
Funding has also been made available by the Department for Work and Pensions to support Blackpool residents who are struggling with rising living costs via the household support fund. That will support those vulnerable households in most need of help with the cost of living.
The Government are acutely aware of the crime and antisocial behaviour located in areas of multiple deprivation. On crime, we have committed to five core missions that seek to address some of the fundamental challenges that society will face over the next 10 years. The safer streets mission will tackle serious crime. It will halve violence against women and girls, halve knife crime, and restore confidence in policing and the criminal justice system. It is focused on addressing both harm and confidence in parallel by taking a whole-system approach. Tackling antisocial behaviour is at the heart of the mission. We are determined to rebuild confidence through investment in neighbourhood policing. We will also be at the forefront of the fight against antisocial behaviour.
On employment deprivation, which my hon. Friend talked about so eloquently, our “Get Britain Working” White Paper focuses on building a thriving labour market, reducing economic inactivity and increasing the number of people in work, which is central to growing the economy. Backed by £240 million of funding announced in the 2024 Budget, the White Paper sets out the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation.
The Government are absolutely committed to tackling entrenched health inequalities through targeted support for coastal communities. We understand and appreciate the specific challenges in our coastal communities, which is why the Coastal Navigators Network was launched by the NHS in 2024, in response to a report by the chief medical officer, to help tackle the acute health challenges facing coastal towns. It reflects the need to tailor our approach to the specific challenges of coastal communities, which can include poor transport and housing, economic decline and a high prevalence of residents with complex conditions.
We understand the acute challenges that our most deprived communities face—our coastal communities doubly so. We are taking significant steps to tackle deprivation in communities such as Blackpool, but we are open to hearing more ways in which we can play our part in supporting communities to grow, improve and thrive. I thank my hon. Friend once again for securing this debate; I look forward to hearing more from him and to working with him to ensure that we tackle the challenge of Blackpool. He is right: when Blackpool does well, the rest of the country is doing well. I look forward to hearing more when I visit in the new year.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish you and the rest of the House a very merry Christmas.