Nigel Farage’s Clacton-on-Sea HQ, nestled above an amusement arcade and a stick of rock’s throw from the pier, make an unlikely setting to mount a political assault on Westminster.

But the Essex town’s new MP has a bulging in-tray a world away from the fading seaside attractions that still draw holidaymakers to the resort.

Clacton’s economic inactivity rate among working-age adults is 41.5 per cent, the third-highest in the country, and almost double the UK’s average of 21.3 per cent.

Last year, Tendring District Council chief Ian Davidson said people living in some parts of Clacton have a life expectancy 18 years lower than that found in wealthier areas of Essex, while the area has some of the worst health inequalities in the country.

Crime was another concern mentioned by residents when i visited this week, while issues such as potholes, pavements and anti-social teens were frequently cited.

Mr Farage, who met Mr Davidson on Monday, says more investment and reviving Clacton as a tourist destination are key objectives.

“Low income is a major problem. There’s just not enough well-paid jobs. So what does the area need? Above all, what it needs is investment, companies to go there,” he told i.

Of his meeting with Mr Davidson, he said. “We talked about private businesses. Can I bring some private business to the constituency to have a look at things, which I promised I’ll try to do.”

Clacton town centre bears the scars of big businesses closing their doors, with a hollowed-out former Sainsbury’s among prime location properties lying vacant.

Pensioner Charlie Pope, 82, and his friends pointed to a lack of decent shops as a factor contributing to what they say is the town’s run-down appearance.

Unlike many constituents in the town, none of them voted for Mr Farage, and they cast doubt on how much of a presence he would be, with Mr Pope praising former MP Douglas Carswell, who defected from the Tories to Ukip in 2015.

“Three or four times a week you would see him in town,” he said, adding he would wait six months to see if there was any improvement in the town before casting judgement.

When i visited, Mr Farage was not at his constituency office. After multiple attempts to track him down, Reform UK’s press team revealed that he was watching the England cricket team at Lord’s.

In a typically defiant mood, he dismissed criticism directed at him on social media for attending the Test against the West Indies on the third day of his new job, saying he “couldn’t care less” and adding that he headed to the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday afternoon.

“I’ll be at Wimbledon on Sunday if they want to criticise me even more,” he added.

A hundred miles and a world away from the manicured lawns of SW19, the village of Jaywick Sands, just along the coast from Clacton-on-Sea, has been named by the Government as the most deprived neighbourhood in England.

Founded in the 30s as chalets and beach huts for holidaymakers, particularly people taking trips from London, many of the 5,000-strong population are housed in a grid of tightly-packed bungalows close to the area’s vast sandy beach.

A House of Lords report in 2019 found that many homes were built of wood, that much of the housing did not meet building regulation requirements, and that the area was at high risk of flooding.

In 2018, a US Republican Congressional candidate prompted an angry reaction when he used a photo of Jaywick Sands to depict “foreclosures, unemployment and economic recession” in America if voters didn’t back Donald Trump.

The potholes that crater parts of Jaywick Sands’s coastal road Brooklands are a menace, said Lee Blows, 42, who broke his wrist after hitting one on his bike.

“They’ve done a crap job, all they did was patch it up, they don’t do the whole road,” he said.

“Everyone’s been moaning about it.”

In April, residents and councillors teamed up to repair the road when a local bus service was threatened with closure after a bus was damaged by a pothole.

Lee’s wife, Claire, 43, pointed to the Sunspot development, a £5.3m project made up of 24 commercial units, retail and office space, a café and other facilities which opened in 2023, as a sign of Jaywick’s improvement.

But she added: “But they do need a fruit and veg stall, butchers for the local residents, because everyone needs to keep going into town.

“There are a lot of older people down here.”

Around 30 per cent of neighbouring Clacton-on-Sea’s residents are aged over 65, compared with just over 18.4 per cent of the population in England, while one of Sunspot’s shops caters for mobility scooter users.

Although neither Claire or Lee voted in the election, they are hopeful Mr Farage can bring improvements to the area, which local residents say has a close-knit community spirit.

“It’s all right around here, apart from you get druggies, but you get them everywhere,” Mr Blows added.

Another resident, aged 60, who moved to Jaywick from Canvey Island, said the crime rate was lower than anywhere she had lived.

“I came here with the hope that that it would get better change and I’ve seen loads of change. Properties are looking slightly better. I can only say positive things,” she said.

But taxi driver Stephen Kutasi, 52, has already written to his new MP, whom he voted for, to raise concerns about drug-dealing in his neighbourhood in the centre of Clacton.

Potholes, too, have affected him, forcing him to pay £500 in repairs when his car was damaged, with Jaywick having potholes that “belong on the moon”, he said.

“Two weeks ago there was a major fight outside my house which broke my fence. Last year one of my front windows was shot at with an air rifle,” he said.

“I’m hoping he [Farage] can do something about it. The drug deals are blatant, day and night.”

Last year, Clacton’s crime rate was 138 incidents per 1,000 people, 64 per cent higher than the rate across Essex and 58 per cent higher than the national average.

Mr Farage says he is meeting the Chief Constable next week, admitting the open use of Class A drugs on the streets is “a real concern to everybody”.

“Oddly, anti-social behaviour has fallen, in fact, and you know why? People are too scared to go out.

“If you look at the crime figures, it will tell you that the problem is getting better. It’s just people literally aren’t going out after dark.”

While potholes fall under Essex County Council’s responsibility, Mr Farage admits the roads look like they are the worst in the county. He had not yet had time to engage with the council over the issue.

At the Three Jays pub, a watering hole favoured by the ex-Ukip leader during the campaign trail, Reform UK placards hang from the fence.

Outside, Stephanie Carr, 58, a carer, is enjoying a day off, and recalls a visit to her house by the Reform leader during campaigning, describing him as “ever such a nice man”.

“He can’t do any worse than what anyone else has done. It’s not really to do here, but I’d like to see him stop the immigrants,” she said.

“I’m not prejudiced, but this is ridiculous. We don’t want them over here.”

Concerns about immigration have helped propel Mr Farage to the Commons at the eighth time of asking, overturning a Conservative majority of more than 25,000 in the process.

But Clacton-on-Sea is one of the least diverse towns in the country, with more than 95 per cent of the local population being white.

Some residents said they would feel uncomfortable approaching Mr Farage with a constituency issue amid a racism storm around Reform UK during the election campaign.

One party activist, Andrew Parker, was caught on camera making racist comments about Rishi Sunak as part of an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News. Three candidates were also dropped over allegedly racist or offensive comments.

One 21-year-old shop worker, originally from Ghana, said: “It’s very sad because there’s a lot of immigrants here, too.”

A 66-year-old retiree who moved to Clacton from London said of Mr Farage: “He’s a stirrer. I would never go to him.

“There are very vulnerable people here and some parts of it look neglected.”

Mr Farage, however, pointed to his party’s share of the vote among ethnic minorities, which a YouGov poll prior to the election projected would be higher than the Liberal Democrats.

“These charges have not been raised against me for over a decade, until this set of elections where, clearly, the party put out this last-minute call for candidates and some pretty bad apples got through,” he added.

“We did have some candidates that said disobliging things, and they are no longer a part of it. We will deal with all of that.”

He continued to maintain that Parker, an actor, was “a complete set-up”, although no concrete evidence has been produced to back that up and Ofcom said it would not investigate Channel 4.

Amid growing concerns over MPs’ security he would not be drawn over whether a weekly meeting with local residents would be possible, pointing to the 2021 murder of Sir David Amess at his constituency surgery as a chilling reminder of the risks facing politicians.

But he said he intends to hold Labour to promises on levelling-up funding earmarked for Clacton by the Tories.

Another area he wants to put pressure on local councils over is provision of services for disabled children.

Opportunities for youngsters in general in the seaside town are a key concern, said kitchen fitter Andrew Maltman, 38, who pointed to a lack of play centres or youth clubs compared to when he was a child.

“Half the time the police are on this road and it is all because of the kids causing trouble,” he said.

“The biggest concern in Clacton right now is the children, they have got nowhere to go.

“We want to be good parents but it’s hard when your kids are always getting into trouble. How about doing stuff for these kids and showing them that there’s a different way to being on that street?”