The 10 worst places to live in England have been revealed - and they all voted to leave the EU

Hate crimes increasing by the highest rate on record, more and more families dependent on food banks, wages rising slower than the rate of inflation...

It can be hard to argue that England is a decent place to live these days.

But because it's the end of the year - and at the end of the year, people love a list - property and local community website ILiveHere has compiled the ten absolute worst places to live in England, as voted for by its users.

Although its hardly a scientific study, the idea is that residents vote for their own town or city.

ILiveHere has been publishing the annual list for more than a decade, and this year thousands of users logged on to cast their vote. As well as publishing the list in full, we've also included comments made about each town by those who voted - which can make for some difficult reading.

To make it a little more interesting, though, indy100 has cross-referenced the towns and cities with how their residents voted in the European Union referendum.

We're often told that many Leave voters opted to exit the EU in protest to what they perceived to be mistreatment and neglect in their local communities. By that token, we could theorise that if you're so unhappy with your town and city that you voted it one of the worst places to live, you're more likely live somewhere that voted to Leave.

Let's see if we're right...

10. Blackpool.

Dropping down from number four in last year's list. One ILiveHere user said:

Go back a few streets from the prom and you will see the deprivation, the ghettos and the scummy pubs that make up the REAL Blackpool.

Our theory is off to a promising start - 67.5 per cent of Blackpool residents voted to leave the EU.

9. Oldham.

A new entry, the Office of National Statistics call Oldham the most deprived town in England. One voter said:

I think Oldham was best summed up by a friend of mine who upon a visit to this fair town one day remarked that the people of Oldham look as though the government has been performing nuclear testing in the area.

61 per cent of people from Oldham voted to leave the EU.

8. Sunderland.

Another new entry. One of the ILiveHere users who voted for Sunderland incorrectly made the claim that it has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in Europe, but did add:

It’s a pretty sad place, to be honest. Find somewhere with easy access to Newcastle City Centre and you’ll be happy.

Most of the city of Sunderland is made up of an area called Wearside, of which 61 per cent of its residents voted to leave the EU.

7. Gravesend.

A return to the charts after failing to make the top ten last year. One voter said:

I have lived in Gravesend all my life. I have visited many other crap towns across Kent and not one so far has even came near to being as chav infested as Gravesend. Gravesend… it sucks. It really, really sucks.

Gravesham had 65 per cent of residents opting out of the EU.

6. Bradford.

Dropping from third in last year's vote, one Bradford resident said:

Bradford is literally hell on earth. The city centre resembles a squalid cess pit...

The ratio between Leave and Remain voters was a little closer in Bradford, with 54 per cent wanting to leave.

5. Rochdale.

Climbing up from nine in last year's chart, ILiveHear's descriptor of Rochdale reads:

Rochdale, once described by Monty Python as a quaint Northern village, I am sure you already recognise this as a misnomer of the greatest degree.

4. Scunthorpe.

A non-mover for the Lincolnshire seaside town. One voter said:

One good thing about Scunthorpe? It takes about 5 minutes from the town centre to get out of the dump and go to a better place!

Scunthorpe was widely depicted as the poster-town for Brexit in the aftermath of the result. While there's no voting data for the town itself, Scunthorpe is considered the administrative centre for North Lincolnshire, which voted Leave with 66 per cent.

3. Luton.

Slipping from second into third place this year. Voters said:

Thank god there’s 3 motorway junctions, 2 railway stations and an airport that can be used for a swift exit.

Luton was also a Leave town, with 56 per cent of residents wanting out of the EU.

2. Kingston upon Hull.

Or just Hull for short. Despite spending this year as a Capital of Culture, it still charted highly in the worst places to live in England. As usual, we refer to the user comment provided:

What a f**king dump this place is.

Unsurprisingly at this point, 66 per cent of people in Hull voted out of the EU.

1. Dover.

And a new entry in at number one, beating Hull by just 16 votes, is Dover. For the final time, ILiveHere's voters said:

Let us for a moment imagine that the British Isles are the silhouette of an old man. Scotland is his cap, Cornwall his toes, Anglia his curved spine, making Dover his herpes infested s**t-hole.

And to make it a perfect ten, 62 per cent of Dover residents voted Leave.

There we have it, then. The worst places to live in England, as voted for by people who live there - and all ten voted to leave the EU.

It's almost like the residents are trying to tell us something.

More: A map of the worst places to live in Britain if you're a woman.

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