Blackpool has enormous pride and potential - it is not ground zero for social decay

MP speaks out after national paper's scathing attack on town

- by Emma Downey

Blackpool's new Multiversity development is due to open next year

Blackpool South MP Chris Webb has spoken out in Parliament defending his hometown after it was labelled 'ground zero for social decay' in a national newspaper.

Mr Webb hit out at the Telegraph for reducing all the hard work going on to improve deprivation in the town 'to another national headline'.

The Daily Telegraph article said "Blackpool is a microcosm of all that's wrong with Britain".

The scathing attack on the town said it was 'an epicentre of inactivity' and demanded the government act to 're-instill' vocational pride in young people before it's too late.

In October, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government updated the English Indices of Deprivation for the first time since 2019.

The indices rank small areas in England according to deprivation across multiple domains - looking beyond income alone and taking account of housing, access to services, education, employment, health, crime and the living environment.

Blackpool was ranked home to seven of the top 10 most deprived areas of the country.