It was raining in Newton Abbot last Tuesday, but there was something more menacing in the air than the icy drizzle blowing up the River Teign. The grim climate of the local labour market is plain to see from a trawl of vacancies in the town’s job centre, which recently moved to the local council offices to provide “better value” for taxpayers. Of 381 local positions on offer, only 15 pay more than £30,000 — well below the average full-time salary in the UK of £35,423.

However, ads for a raw dog food factory production assistant and CCTV drainage surveyor (“unblocking experience” required) will still be scrutinised. That is because the south Devon market town is bearing the brunt as Britain’s long and much-lauded jobs