Mayor hits back over wage table that names Mansfield among Britain's worst

Mayor of Mansfield Kate Allsop has hit back over stats that show Mansfield to be one of the worst town in Britain for low wages and high levels of welfare.

Think tank, Centre for Cities, put together the list of towns and cities with the lowest and highest average pay and the amount of people using the welfare state.

It was found that Mansfield has average weekly wages of £414, well below Britain’s average of £504.

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But Mrs Allsop said: ““We are disappointed, but this is an area with more than its fair share of deprivation so trying to compare it against the likes of the City of London, as this report seems to do, is not realistic.

“Mansfield is improving and this report doesn’t reflect the journey made over the last few years.

“I set out in my manifesto that a key priority for Mansfield is to create jobs and improve economic growth, making sure we improve the quality of life of our community.

“This is ever more difficult with reducing Government grant where we have to continue to deliver services with less and less money.

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“The work that we do in partnership with our business community, further education providers and our partners will be crucial to our ability to make a real difference.

“We want the Government to devolve decision making and spending power to local people who know the challenges that Mansfield faces so that we can address the issues on the ground and regenerate our district.”

Hull topped the low-wages list with average wages of £376.

Only Hull, Blackburn and Blackpool had lower average pay and high number of people in benefits. All but one area in the top-10 list were found in the north of the midlands.

Meanwhile, eight of the 10 towns or cities with the highest wages and lowest welfare spend were in the south, with the remaining two in Scotland.

The study was carried out in response to Chancellor George Osborne’s summer budget last year, when he said the Government’s focus would be to provide a high-wage, low-welfare economy.