A lot of politicians have promised change to voters in Hartlepool, a wind-whipped port town in northeast England. For decades, Labour Party representatives said they would fight for working people, even as well-paid industrial jobs disappeared. Later, Conservatives under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to bring new money and opportunities on the back of Brexit.
But as British voters prepare to elect a new government Thursday, Hartlepool’s many problems persist. It has higher unemployment, lower pay, shorter life expectancy, more drug deaths and higher crime rates than the country as a whole.
