So Rishi is promising to divert levelling up funds to Tunbridge Wells....

[Jansobieski]

At a hustings speech in that well known centre of rural deprivation Tunbridge Wells Rishi has bemoaned the labour policy of channelling money to areas of urban deprivation in the north and he's going to change it. Presumed it would be a throwaway remark from 2013 that he could deny but no, actually was part of a filmed speech in a large garden to elderly folk ground down down by years of poverty and deprived of a waitrose on every street corner. Who knew Rishi the class warrior 😂

Not really sure how this is news, and who to ?

I guess a politician telling the truth is newsworthy. But surely no one ever thought this wasn't the case anyway ?

Tory pledges to keep the rich rich
Colour me gobsmacked

@SerendipityJane the fact that the government sold themselves as the true levelling uppers. Won seats that have never been tory on the basis of huge investment promises. I think it's big news for anyone in a red wall area considering voting for them.

These would be the same red wall voters who were warned the Tories were going to shaft them anyway ?

Or another lot not quite so stupid ?

Weirdly Tunbridge Wells IS deprived of a Waitrose! 😂 It had one a whole back that for some reason closed down.
Misses the point completely

I think anyone who knows Tunbridge Wells well, would agree with me that the inmates are most deprived. Some are so far gone they are completely without compassion.

The only thing I don't like about this news scuppering Sunaks chances is it leaves us with Truss 😐

This is actually huge because all the so called liberals who keep themselves in shape by balancing precariously on the fence can no longer deny what has actually now been outright said with zero hesitation. Yes it comes as no surprise but a huge element of 'let's hear them out' i.e. that the tories could be a reasonable party of governance for all the UK - is that it was predicated on them being able to 'row' back. Now they can't do that because they've openly said it. The Rwanda policy which is racist as hell was construed as 'but we must protect our borders'. The whole thing has been a giant exercise in gaslighting and lying to huge swathes of the public. There is no way to backtrack on Sunak's words because they're out there clear as day.

It's never had a Waitrose. There were rumours when Morrison's closed down that it would be there, but apparently the council wouldn't sell the car park to Waitrose so it became The Range instead. My parents would trek to Tonbridge once a week instead ....

@HuntingoftheSnark Wasn't there a Waitrose there before Morrison's? In the 80s/90s. Or have I Mandela Effected that?!

I’d love to take Rishi and the inmates of Tunbridge Wells on a tour to see where some people have to live.

There are places that look like wastelands - crammed full of many people, libraries and amenities long gone. Absolute shitholes and great poverty. But the affluent areas still keep their banks and their clean streets. ( But still moan - because maybe they want more hanging baskets and a bigger duck pond)

No doubt the Mumsnet massive will come on here now and just say people just have to ‘work harder’ to get out of there - when they are already working X amount of hours with no security whilst Laura in Suffolk who has never worked since leaving Uni, sits by her aga and bemoans lazy people who deserve what they get.

Truly not surprised though. Just very sad.

Do people really believe there is no poverty in areas like TW?
I guess they do

@PinkArt love the Mandela Waitrose effect idea! Before Morrison's it was Safeway for years. TW residents would love to get their hands on a local Waitrose. I, on the other hand, was delighted when Lidl appeared ...

Shock horror!
Tories funnel money from poor people to rich people!

Are you talking about that ten second clip where he said about Labour putting all funds into urban areas?
He was clearly saying it needs to be spread across rural and urban communities and not just given to urban areas.

2 points

1. Trust me there are very deprived parts of Tunbridge Wells (albeit not very many)

1. There is now a mini Waitrose at one of the petrol stations if that counts? 😀

Are you refering to a different quote to the video that we have all seen of Rishi, saying that he has been taking money from deprived urban areas to give it to ones like where we was talking = Tunbridge Wells.

It is true that rural deprivation is an often forgotten problem, but there is no evidence that that is what Rishi meant.

North Shropshire (remember the by-election) would be a reasonable example. It has been promised levelling up money to restore a section of canal. Strangely the people who live there were more concerned that their children could not get to sixth form college because the bus services do not exist. But hey lets spend millions on dredging a canal nowhere, that only rich holiday makers will use and wonder why we are unpopular.

It is true that rural deprivation is an often forgotten problem, but there is no evidence that that is what Rishi meant.

The evidence is that the video is cut to a very specific sentence and cuts off when he's going on to clarify his statement.

Any of them would promise to make pigs fly if it got them votes. Politicians are 99% tosh.

I once mentioned that there was a dodgy estate in Guildford and got laughed at. Well there is - Park Barn - and there were riots there some years ago.

But don't let the facts get in the way of peoples' prejudices. In some ways it's worse being poor in areas of conspicuous wealth as you're constantly getting your face rubbed in it.

Kent has some fairly major areas of deprivation. Mind you, they voted to deprive themselves further with the Brexit vote, so my sympathy is limited.

Agree. They voted 'To get brexit done' and are all now shocked that its f*** us up royally and they have no interest in helping the working classes, esp those up north. Most people child see through their lies

The interesting thing to me is that, for once, a Tory was admitting the truth. That I don’t give a shit about “levelling up” or the deprived. They only care about the wealthy and the idiots who will vote for them. Utterly sickening. He’s immoral and divorced from reality and Truss is a moron.

they - not I

Well, why don't you post the full video then?

Tunbridge Wells actually voted to remain, it was a remain place in a leavers sea. But it did recently swing to lib dem in council elections (iirc) so rishi’d comments could be more about winning those voters back.

the MP of Tunbridge Wells, Greg Clark, is now the sec of state for leveling up.