PRIME Minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency includes some of the lowest-paid workers in the UK, a survey published today shows.

People in Sedgefield borough, County Durham, are paid an average of £397.20 a week, compared with £1,251.50 a week in the country's highest-paid area, Kensington and Chelsea, in London.

A Halifax building society study shows the gross weekly full and part-time wages in the region are as much as 24 per cent lower than in Kensington and Chelsea.

Easington, in County Durham, has the region's lowest earners, with an average weekly wage of £387.

Sedgfield is the second lowest in the region and 29th lowest in the UK.

The survey of 408 local authorities across the country found that eight of the 50 lowest paid populations were in the North-East, and one in North Yorkshire.

They include Sunderland, Darlington, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Berwick and Blyth Valley, in Northumberland, and Richmondshire, in North Yorkshire.

The cost of living in the North-East was also found to be much lower, with average house price-to-earnings ratios up to 32 per cent lower than in the top 50 earning areas.

Pat Ritchie, regional development agency One NorthEast's strategy and development director, said: "Obviously, it is of concern that salaries in certain areas in the North-East seem a long way behind the South-East of England.

"However, we are making concerted efforts to address that gap. A key way to do this is to improve the skills base in the region, so that our workers can command a salary appropriate to their level of expertise.

"And by encouraging the growth of more knowledge-based businesses and higher-end technology firms that trade on the calibre of their staff, we hope to see a shift upwards in skills levels and an associated upward shift in wage bills in the longer term."

Tim Crawford, group economist at Halifax, said: "This snapshot of British wage trends confirms that earnings are highest in London and the South-East while the lowest earnings are in the North of England.

"While there are clear areas of below-average earnings, the cost of living in these places is often lower, as shown by our statistics."