Boris Johnson announces new investment to 'rejuvenate' towns like Mansfield

The new measures announced by Boris Johnson would see the Conservatives provide yet more investment into towns that have "not always benefited" from economic growth.

It will build on the 'Towns Fund', revealed in September, and will see measures put in place to keep the high street "open for business" and "save pubs and post offices".

It will also reconnect towns to previous rail networks, for example the extension of the Robin Hood Line and the reopening of the Maid Marion Line in Ashfield, and also invest in cycling and walking provisions.

In the measures, it would see a 50 per cent discount provided on business rates across town centres, while provisions will be set up to support community groups who want to purchase their local pubs or post offices.

Mr Johnson says the measures will see the government "invest in communities" and "rejuvenate" the high streets.

He said: "For too long, too many towns and villages across the East Midlands have been overlooked and left behind.

"When the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, many communities in this region felt their voices had been heard for the first time in decades and their lives would improve.

"We are going to invest in communities across the East Midlands and help people put the heart back into the fantastic towns and villages you call home.

"We are going to get Brexit done so that we can unleash the potential of this region. We will rejuvenate the high streets, save community assets and improve connectivity by restoring lines that were lost to the Beeching Report in the 1960s.

"But we can only do this if we end the dither, delay and paralysis in Westminster. We need a Conservative majority government which will deliver for communities across Britain – not a Corbyn-Sturgeon alliance which would expend all its energy on two more chaotic referendums."