I've been chatting online to somebody who lives in one of the places which turned blue on Thursday (and voted Conservative himself), despite being a very deprived area and (nearly) always having voted Labour.
The overall feeling I took away from the conversation was that people want to feel positive. They tend to be labelled as deprived and in need of benefits. They don't want that - they look down their noses at people claiming benefits as much as anybody else. They want the opportunity for decent education and jobs, so they can buy a house, have a decent car, go on holidays, etc (all the normal stuff). They want to feel proud of where they live and not feel frightened of crime and disgusted by litter and graffiti.
Many of them will, of course, achieve that by going away to college and/or going to live in a different place … then they'll become so-called middle-Englanders. It seems to me that people think that Labour looks down its nose at people like that. Some of them cling to old-fashioned ideas about a romanticised working class. Life has moved on.
My opinion is that people in deprived areas who voted Conservative have just shot themselves in the foot, but it's not for me to tell them. Somehow (and I don't know how) there has to be some movement speaking up for people in "forgotten" towns doing shitty or "self-employed" jobs. I don't think Labour has listened and that's why they've lost so many votes.