Inland Cornwall Experiences Some Of The Highest Levels Of Poverty In The UK

CAMBORNE, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 24: Michael Hichens, a volunteer driver, has been sleeping in his car for four weeks as he waits to be rehoused poses for a photograph at the Donald Thomas Centre. The elderly day care centre has been under threat of closure since its funding was slashed by the council due to austerity cuts in Camborne on July 24, 2017 in Cornwall, England. Figures released by Eurostat in 2014 named the British county of Cornwall as one of Europe's top ten poverty areas falling behind Poland, Lithuania and Hungary. Average wages were £14,300 compared with the UK national figure of £23,300 and £20,750 across Europe. UK government statistics show almost a quarter of people living in the Camborne, Pool and Redruth (CPR) area of Cornwall are in one of the most deprived areas of England with the highest level of childhood obesity, almost a quarter of children aged under 16 living in poverty and the lowest life expectancy. The area, which has long suffered from severe industrial decline with the demise of the copper and tin mining industries, has not shared in the wealth created in nearby tourist havens such as Newquay, Padstow and St Ives. Cornwall is the only UK county to have previously received emergency funding from the European Union (EU) and was one of the major beneficiaries of the UK's membership of the EU due to the large amount of funding made available through the EUs Objective One and Convergence programmes. Despite this voters overwhelmingly backed the campaign to leave the European Union in the June 2016 referendum. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)