They are the areas that gave Boris Johnson his majority in 2019, then went Labour in 2024, and are now being targeted heavily by Reform UK. This group is outside the labour force because they are not looking for or available for work, distinguishing them from the unemployed. Receiving support is not helping those in these supposed mission-critical locations, is the very clear message of this report. The policy failure this chart exposes is not an accident; it will be achieved by Labour by design. Unless its priorities change now (which seems very unlikely), expect Reform to win in these places in 2029.

Source: The Guardian January 28, 2026 20:20 UTC