The Isles of Scilly, where Britain's poorest people live

It is an area of outstanding natural beauty, enjoys Britain's most clement weather and attracts more than 120,000 visitors to its unspoilt shores each year. Ever since the former prime minister Harold Wilson descended on the Isles of Scilly in his shorts and sandals, the sub-tropical islands off Cornwall have been seen as one of England's most desirable tourist spots.

Yet behind the picture-postcard image lies a very different reality. According to a report this week, this is the poorest place in Britain. A study of differing wealth levels across the EU, carried out by Eurostat – the statistical arm of the European Commission – put Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly at the bottom of the table and on a par with former eastern bloc countries such as Slovakia and Slovenia. Taking 100 as the benchmark for wealth, the Scillies and Cornwall scored 77.4 – far below most of the EU.

The figures for the islands were not separated from Cornwall but the Isles of Scilly Economic Development Council believes that, if taken alone, the average wealth of those living in the archipelago would be even lower than that of their Cornish neighbours, making the islands' 2,153 inhabitants the worst-off in Britain...more>