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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
John Harris

Lacking hope, desperate for change: the UK towns devastated by Tory rule

People living in a tent sit and chat next to a government Levelling Up poster in Boston, England
In Boston in Lincolnshire, 75% of voters chose to leave the EU in 2016; now its people are turning away from the Conservatives. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

There were about 30 people standing outside Birmingham Central Mosque, and they formed as diverse a crowd as the city’s population. It was food bank day: inside a portable building in the car park, a team of four spirited women were efficiently sorting through crates of groceries and handing those who had finally reached the front of the line what they needed.

As they did their work, we had a snatched conversation. “The queues are getting longer,” one of them said.

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