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The Tories have announced a competition to find the Town of the Year as part of their £3.6bn pledge to fund the UK’s “left-behind” areas.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the contest aims to celebrate “entrepreneurship, technology, enterprise and integration” and promote community spirit.

Pledging to visit the 100 towns that have been selected for a financial boost, he said the plans will “help make this decade a time of renewal for towns and communities.”

Labour leadership hopeful and MP for Wigan Lisa Nandy said: “The government knows that what happens in our towns will determine the UK's political future but the Tories are having a laugh with this gimmick.

“If they want towns to thrive they will stop treating us with disdain, and start devolving real power so we can make decisions for ourselves.”

The towns funding has been criticised for mainly targeting wealthy Conservative seats, rather than Labour-held constituencies.

Areas that were significantly hit by austerity such as Blackburn and Knowsley - which has lost 45% of its council funding since 2010 - will not be funded by the scheme.

Mr Jenrick’s own constituency of Newark is set to receive money.

The now-Tory Workington, seen as a bellwether seat in the General Election , is also on the list.

Office for National Statistics data shows that a third of the 100 “left behind” towns are not amongst the 300 most deprived in the country.

Despite being lauded as a ‘new’ towns fund, the money is actually a combination of Theresa May ’s ‘Stronger Towns Fund’, the “Future High Streets Fund” which was announced in 2018, and a ‘top up’ by the PM.