Welfare cuts will hammer red wall areas, study finds

Rachel Reeves’s plans to slash billions of pounds in disability payments will hit red wall communities hardest, according to research.

- KATE DEVLIN WHITEHALL EDITOR

The move poses a risk to Labour, which won back many of its traditional heartland seats at last year’s general election, having lost them to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in 2019.

The North East and North West of England are set to be the hardest hit. All of the top 10 most-impacted constituencies are located in the two regions and all are in the red wall, including Bootle, Birkenhead and Hartlepool, a report from the think tank Health Equity North found.

The areas that will be least impacted include Theresa May’s former constituency of Maidenhead.