Lots of nuances to this story by me and @TomCalver2 but it's clear there are questions to answer over why some comparatively affluent towns are eligible for funding and some very deprived ones aren't https://twitter.com/TomCalver2/status/1194524398637797376

We're not the first to comment on the Towns Fund's prioritisation of less deprived marginals, but we managed to quantify it using the govt's own key measure used in drawing up the list

Also worth highlighting: in their 2017 manifesto the Conservatives promised a UK shared prosperity fund worth £30bn to address inequalities between communities, and they haven't even opened a consultation on it in the past two years

For those asking about majority size, we looked at that...

The 100 areas chosen to receive funds had an average parliamentary majority of just over 6,000. This compares with an average majority of almost 11,000 in England’s 10 per cent most deprived towns.

One more thing: lots of these places do really need more investment - just because somewhere is marginal doesn't mean it's not needy - but some of the choices do deserve scrutiny