OXFORD has been named the 'wokest' place in the country in a new study exploring how residents engage with social and environmental issues.

The city pipped Brighton & Hove to top spot in the table of the UK's most progressive areas, despite not ranking highest in any of the seven categories.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'woke' as being 'alert to injustice in society', or 'being aware or well-informed in a political or cultural sense'.

But the term has grown in popularity in recent years and now covers sustainability and environmental awareness, as well as socio-political issues.

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Consumer financial services company Bankrate, which carried out the survey, said of the top-performing cities: "Whether it’s a green-minded commitment to recycling, a strong voter turnout, or ensuring that the ethnic diversity of the city is represented in local government, these cities have not just woken up to their duty to encourage a socially aware community, but they are staying woke by ensuring continued progress."

Bankrate gave 50 UK cities a score out of five in each of the seven separate categories, with Oxford achieving 23.82 overall.

This was slightly above Brighton & Hove, which scored 23.33, and Bath's total of 22.31, while Cambridge ranked fifth with 21.87.

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Oxford's highest score was the 4.2 achieved in the recycling rates category, which measured the amount of household waste recycled as a percentage of the total collected.

This is despite Oxford City coming last of the county's five districts for recycling rates in 2017/18, with just 51 per cent.

This was followed by 3.9 in voter turnout - based on the 2017 General Election - and 3.8 in the number of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) per capita.

Last month, Oxford company Vert2Go launched the city's first fully electric private hire vehicle, becoming the first ULEV Private Hire Proprietor in the city.

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Meanwhile, in the 2017 election, turnout in the Oxford West & Abingdon constituency was 79.4 per cent, while the total in Oxford East was 68.8 per cent.

The latter was the same turnout as the UK as a whole.

The city's next highest score was 3.5 in the category measuring the number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants per capita.

Meanwhile, Oxford was given a rating of 3.4 for the combined Google Trend scores for woke-related terms.

But the city scored just 2.3 in the council diversity category, which measures female and BAME representation at local council level.

London did not rank in the top ten for any individual category.

The full survey can be found here.