Southampton-born Rishi Sunak has said he is the most northern Chancellor the country has had in 70 years.

During a hustings event last night, he described the city as "pretty much like any other Red Wall place in the north".

He joined Liz Truss at the Manchester Central Convention Complex as they go head-to-head in the race to be Prime Minister.

"I am the most northern Chancellor that we've had in 70 years," he told the Manchester audience.

Red Wall areas are often said to be the former Labour seats in the north that switched to blue in the last election.

The former Chancellor is now MP for Richmond, in north Yorkshire.

Sunak told the crowd that for the party to be re-elected, the government should not ignore the deprived areas of the south.

"If you think this Conservative government is going to get re-elected by telling everyone who lives in the south that we don't give a stuff about them and they don't have needs, I don't know what planet you're on," he said.

In footage broadcast by GB News, he added: "When I was speaking in Kent, there were people there from Thanet, which is one of the most deprived places in England. Of course, a place like Thanet needs investment.

"I'm from Southampton. If you didn't know where Southampton was and you just looked at all the stats, it would look pretty much like any other Red Wall place in the north, as the MP for Southampton, who is a Conservative, has made the point."

READ MORE: Winning City of Culture should be about ‘opportunity not geography’, says MP

Tory MP Royston Smith, who represents Southampton Itchen, shared his worries in June that the city has been overlooked.

This was after Southampton missed out on winning UK City of Culture 2025.

He told the Echo: “Government talks about levelling up, but we have seen precious little evidence of it here in Southampton.

“Where once we boasted thousands of blue-collar manufacturing jobs, we are now too reliant on retail and service industries.

“These are not jobs with security, good pay and prospects. If we, as a government, are serious about levelling up we need to look south as well as north."

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