Jeremy Corbyn: Labour government would tackle 'grotesque inequality’ in seaside towns
2 min read
The Labour leader will say that coastal communities have been hit by "nine years of vicious austerity and Tory cuts" in a speech in Hastings on Saturday.
According to the BBC, Mr Corbyn will pledge to end "evil of in-work poverty" and "the need for food banks".
His promise comes after new research by the BBC found that workers living in seaside towns earn on average £1,600 less than those living inland.
Two-thirds of coastal communities have also seen a real term fall in wages since 2010.
But the government has said that it is investing over £200 million in coastal communities by 2021.
They also claimed that deprived areas could benefit from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund.
Speaking in Hastings, East Sussex today, Mr Corbyn will say that poverty and inequality are “not inevitable”.
The Hastings and Rye constituency is one that Labour hopes to win from the Conservative party.
In 2017, the seat went to then-Conservative MP Amber Rudd, but the former home secretary recently quit the party and has said she will not stand again in the constituency.
Mr Corbyn will say: "In the fifth-richest country in the world no-one should be forced to rely on a food bank to feed their family, no-one should be sleeping rough on our streets, and nobody should be working for poverty wages."
He will also cite parliamentary research claiming that 15,000 adults in Hastings could be in receipt of Universal Credit when it is fully rolled out, and that foodbanks in the area claim to have distributed almost 90,000 meals in the last year.
Mr Corbyn will promise that a Labour government would increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour, scrap universal credit and build one million affordable homes in ten years to tackle the issue.
But, Minister for Local Growth Jack Berry has defended the government’s record, he said: "Thanks to a thriving economy and record employment, the government can afford to invest more in communities across the country - something that would be put at risk with a reckless high-tax, high-debt Corbyn government."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
