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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Morgan Ofori

‘Dirty rotten scoundrel’: Blackpool voters dismayed by Tory MP Scott Benton

postal worker Ian Graham
Postal worker Ian Graham says he has not seen levelling up come to Blackpool South. Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

Behind the facade of the bright lights on the Blackpool seafront is a town yearning for regeneration. The magistrates court, crumbling from Raac, no longer hears cases. Visitors to the South Shore area behind the famous pleasure beach attraction expecting hustle and bustle are instead greeted with a sombre mood created by disillusionment and a lack of trust.

“Scott Benton is a dirty rotten scoundrel,” says Dale Dodwell, the manager of the tattoo parlour Monsters Ink. “He keeps putting up pictures of him eating loads of food. What about the homeless? All good for you because you have loads of money.”

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