Sir Keir Starmer is to announce a “Pride in Place” programme with funding for over 330 disadvantaged communities as part of a fightback against Reform UK.
The money will come alongside new powers for local groups to seize boarded-up shops, save derelict pubs and block gambling and vape stores on high streets, the government said.
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The plan aims to address the sense of isolation in deprived communities, which Labour insiders believe is feeding the rise of Reform UK.
A Labour source described the programme as “absolutely essential” and “transformative”.
They told Sky News: “Reform is trying to divide communities, Labour wants to empower them, and we are giving them the tools and resources to turn them around.”
The full list of places that will receive the cash boost, and how much they will get, will be confirmed by the prime minister on Thursday.
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The money is part of the communities funding plan announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her June spending review, which promised new investment for 350 deprived areas across the UK “to improve parks, youth facilities, swimming pools and libraries”.
The government said at the time these areas included the 75 places previously named in the Plan for Neighbourhoods, each of which will get £20m of funding over the next 10 years.
The Spending Review named another 20 “pilot neighbourhoods” in England to receive the same amount of funding, mainly in the north or the Midlands, as well as five other pilots across the rest of the UK.
Sir Keir is expected to announce the rest on Thursday.
Speaking ahead of that announcement, the new housing secretary, Steve Reed, said the money will allow local people to “decide how best to restore pride in their neighbourhoods, not us in Westminster”.
He added: “That’s what real patriotism looks like: building up our communities and choosing renewal over division.”
How will the funding work?
The funding will be allocated to neighbourhood boards made up of community leaders and stakeholders, who will work closely with local councils, it is understood.
They will be granted Community Right to Buy and Compulsory Purchase Powers, allowing them to buy assets like grassroots football clubs, seize derelict buildings and save local pubs, the government said.
Councils will also be given powers to block betting shops, vape stores and fake barbers.
The programme draws similarities with Tony Blair’s New Deal for Communities (NDC), a 10-year regeneration drive that targeted 39 of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England from 2001.
An independent evaluation found NDC partnerships delivered improvements across several indicators, including crime, education and health. The biggest change was how people felt about their neighbourhoods as places to live.
Each area had around £50m of investment under the former Labour prime minister’s programme, but these were geographically bigger than the ones the government is now targeting, it is understood.
The “Pride in Place” Programme has been informed by the work of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON), launched in September last year to review the state of England’s neighbourhoods.
ICON identified 613 “mission critical” neighbourhoods – those they said needed the most urgent attention to make progress on Sir Keir’s “missions” for government.
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The bulk of these were in post-industrial areas in northern England, though high need was also identified in the West Midlands and coastal towns such as Blackpool and Clacton – the latter being the seat of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Many of the sites to be announced are expected to contain a mission-critical neighbourhood within them.
Baroness Hilary Armstrong, a former Labour health minister and chair of ICON, said: “If residents start to see positive, tangible changes in their neighbourhoods, this should start to restore the public’s faith in the power of government to do good.”
It comes at a critical time for Sir Keir, who has faced questions over whether he can survive after spending most of his first year in office languishing behind Reform UK in the polls.
Labour MPs have been lobbying for the funding for some time, expressing concern that Number 10’s mission to grow the economy with big infrastructure investments will not directly benefit people in areas that look and feel “left behind”.
Luke Akehurst, the Labour MP for North Durham, told Sky News: “This is what Labour governments are all about – properly funding the areas of the county that most need help.”
