My town has really changed

I'm aware that Cornwall is an area with considerable poverty, and comparably to (and worse than some) areas of Northern England, yes. I am not a Londoner. Not that that has anything to do with it.

Agree with you completely.. the main way to get yourself out of poverty is through education to obtain a decent job… education is free in this country however a lot of the underclass do not value education, their children do not go or if they do go they are disruptive and take no active part in learning. It’s a poverty of the mind and work ethic, not bank accounts.

Lack of fact rather than matter of fact.
People in limbo can't earn = gov problem
More taxes are collected than benefits spent - documented fact.
Logistical problems concerning schools, NHS & police = gov problem.
Were having fewer kids in general so actually need some youth tax wise. Obviously any criminals can be returned - Hell for the home grown violent crims I'd be happy for a floating prison in the North Sea to be their home.

You are aware Cornwall isn’t in the North of England. Or are you in the group of mumsnetters who think in terms of London and not London?

And did these grants outweigh costs?

Is it men that are the problem? We are clearly more tolerant of female immigrants and it’s not generally gangs of women causing people to feel unsafe in town centres.

And is this why so many (often) white males are struggling to find their place in the big scheme of things?

The UK is a dumping ground.

Bolton used to have a tight-knit community, it has gone to rot !

Farnworth is unbelievable!!!

We are living in a take take culture.
I see it every day at work !

Scavengers conning the system, that take money from the needy because they know how to work the system.

Genuine families going without because con artists are funded 1st.

A blind pensioner on a low income who has paid & worked , not helped with travel expenses to hospital appointments BUT a lazy never worked given a taxi for the school run......... ariving in pyjamas or designer clothes ....

Why ? Because they can !

Its common in some circles to 'blame' the relatively warm welcome afforded Ukrainians on racism, but actually I think its more to do with the Ukrainian influx consisting overwhelmingly of women & children.

None of the things you're complaining about were caused by being in the EU.

Given the state the country is in right now (five years after Brexit) it's very strange that people still think Brexit has been in any way good. Haven't even got lower immigration!

It's such a typical Remainer attitude, isn;t it? 30 years of housing shortages, massive pressure on public services, sky high rents, undercutting of commercial contracts from the poorer EU countries and suppressed wages since freedom of movement in 1992 changed our country forever. And all they can say is 'yes we know you live in some post-industrial wasteland where it's impossible to get a council house and local employers would rather go on recruitment drives to Latvia or the Balkans than to pay a proper wage to British people, and yes okay so there are some Roma ghettos where people operate professional begging gangs and set light to mattresses in the street, but look! You've got an EU grant to re-wallpaper your foodbank and build an LGBTQ+ community centre. Where on earth would you be without the EU?

Imported desperation doesn't benefit those already at the bottom here, many of whom will be via previous waves of immigration. Multi povertyism + multiculturalism isn't shaping up to end well. I want everyone everywhere to thrive and wish there was some way of it happening.

I’ve spent my whole life living in Wigan. I am well travelled though, and honestly, I don’t believe it is any worse than other northern towns that it borders. Indeed probably no worse than many places in the uk as a whole.

I am actually fed up of the negativity surrounding the regeneration of the town centre. Yes, it’s currently devoid of life, but when it’s undergoing a wholesale change, that’s to be expected for a while. The plans are ambitious and actually what many town centres actually need. There needs to be acceptance that the old high street is dead now, a town centre cannot survive let alone thrive on that business model. I love to hark back to my youthful Saturdays spent in the town centre shopping. Late night Thursday shopping at Christmas was a real treat. But this no longer is the way we live and people saying the centre is dead because there are no shops are living in cuckoo land. The town centre died long before the shops left.

i live in the north of the borough and we have a thriving community and house prices have risen ridiculously since Covid indicating that, contrary to popular belief, this isn’t in fact one of the worst places to live in the country.

yes, there’s poverty, deprivation and areas that are not especially desirable. But there are everywhere. I believe that once the regeneration is complete the town centre will also be cleaned up. I am ambitious for Wigan and its future.

I remember seeing some figures about Cornwall, actually, and the money they'd had from the EU, which dwarfed the amount of money the government was allocating to them.

Grants, obviously.

In what way did the North of England benefit from EU money?

Often homeless people use phones etc to find rooms in hostels etc. I wouldn’t begrudge a homeless person anything that can improve their lives at all. It’s disgusting that anyone has to be on the street in this country - absolutely disgusting. Why are these people on the street yet we can find £41k to keep someone from another country fed and watered in a hotel.

I live near to Bournemouth and I very rarely go into Bournemouth now. I don’t like the underlying unpleasant feel.
I walked down one of the main streets with our DD (age 14) and some of her friends, I was very aware of the number of men hanging around in shop doorways,watching the young girls .
Our eldest DS works occasionally in the local Bournemouth college, over the Summer he was mugged , waiting at a bus stop
I think most towns are struggling, all so depressing ….

The north has NEVER been better off for being in the EU, all things considered. Hence why almost everyone in the north voted to leave.

However, it's simply misleading to imply that we have 'lost out' on EU grants for regeneration projects, because all the EU ever did was take our money then give us small amounts of it back, telling us exactly what we could spend it on.

Not really. The fact that the UK was a nett payer-in doesn't mean that some areas (like the North of England) might have been better off in the EU.

I think the internet has a lot to answer for, the amount of kids I’ve heard say something is x dollars - there seems a greater awareness of American politics than our own etc.

You’re Dad sounds like he led an incredibly interesting life, thanks for sharing- I had no idea about this and it’s led me to want to find out more.

Compared to the lovely bit of the East of London I live in that all sounds quite normal. We are apparently the poorest ward in the poorest London Borough, it's delightful but as I live in a council house I can't afford to move anywhere nicer.

I disagree actually, but that's beside the point and not a debate for this thread. However, it's simply misleading to imply that we have 'lost out' on EU grants for regeneration projects, because all the EU ever did was take our money then give us small amounts of it back, telling us exactly what we could spend it on.

I agree OP
i have worked in a Gp practice in a seaside town for over 35 years and it was bad back then. Now it is antisocial behaviour from the children and grandchildren of that generation. I’m sure austerity hasn’t helped but things were in decline well before that. It feels like a dumbing down of society/ morals and care for anyone other than themselves

Not going to argue about Brexit, but the rot had set in LONG before Brexit and lots of areas had gone downhill a decade or two (or even longer) before the referendum. You really can't blame everything happening today on Brexit or Covid, despite lots of people trying. Perhaps in YOUR area, things were all hunky dory until 2015, but that's not the case in lots of run down seaside resorts, lots of ex mining/shipbuilding/mill towns, etc., which were down and out 20/30 years ago!