“In the 60s it was a fabulous place to live,” sighed one resident of the north-east English town of Newton Aycliffe, in an interview published last week as part of our investigation into the state of Britain’s high streets. “The town centre was absolutely beautiful … You would be ashamed to bring someone here now. It’s unrecognisable.”

Similar perceptions of decline are now the norm across the nation. In postwar Britain, high streets became the thriving hubs of a more affluent society and a source of local identity and pride. But almost 13,000 shops closed in 2024 – an attrition rate of around 37 a day, which particularly affected the north of England, the Midlands and deprived coastal areas. The emergence of superstores and retail parks, and the post‑pandemic boom in internet shopping, has hollowed out the centres of towns and left a gaping sense of loss.

For Sir Keir Starmer and Labour, this is a major political problem as well as an economic one. Research by the University of Southampton found that improving high streets was near the top of most voters’ priorities, behind only healthcare and reducing crime. The failure of governments to offer more than sticking‑plaster solutions is fuelling resentment in places where faith in politics – and the promises of mainstream parties – is at rock bottom. Recent polling found that 62% of voters who are considering backing Reform UK believe their local area is in decline.

Ahead of the byelection in Gorton and Denton later this month, reports that Sir Keir has identified this as a defining issue are therefore welcome. Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” agenda was underpowered, piecemeal and quickly became a vehicle for pork-barrel politics at its most cynical. But it correctly identified a geography of discontent where faded provincial high streets had become a symbol of Westminster’s neglect, and a lightning rod for wider grievances. Proving that Labour could do a better job should have been front and centre of its first year in office.

The government’s £5bn Pride in Place fund will see an initial £1.5bn allocated to 75 deprived areas in April. That is a useful start. Plans to make it easier for communities to take over vacant lots are also welcome. But reversing decline will ultimately depend on spending serious money, and political capital, on a wider transformation strategy.

A more level playing field for bricks-and-mortar businesses, which are taxed disproportionately compared with online competitors, is urgently needed. But support for commercial retail should be complemented by a drive to establish high streets as hubs for social interaction and civic activity. The shopping heyday of the high street was a postwar phenomenon. Any 21st-century revival will be based on giving local authorities the resources to restore a mix of activities and functions, and ensuring that residents get the chance to shape priorities.

As the Guardian’s reporting from Newton Aycliffe illustrates, a declining town centre is often experienced as a crisis of communal self-esteem. The disappearance of big-name department stores and bustling streets does more than restrict options; it damages collective morale. A successful regeneration strategy, in which communities are truly empowered to turn things around, would be a gamechanger for any government. But Labour is likely to pay a high price if its recipe for change turns out to be more of the same.

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