---

Life Expectancy In This Country Reduced To An Extent Not Seen For Over A Century

Following 10 years of a Government that has chosen austerity as its main policy ten years of austerity now means the poor die younger in the north of the country.

Falling life expectancy, rises in child poverty and worsening health are all the consequences of Tory policies, which Trade Unions and the TUC amongst others argued weren’t even economically necessary, is an indictment of the UK government for the last ten years!

Now a staggering and shameful report says that ten years of austerity has hit the north hardest, and it has a warning for the Prime Minister.

Health expert Sir Michael Marmot’s latest report, Health Equity In England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On evidences that overall life expectancy in this country has deteriorated to an extent not seen for over 100 years, with damage to health in the last ten years being ‘unprecedented’ with rises in child poverty, the closure of hundreds of Surestart centres, unequal council cuts and a growing wage gap, all of which are believed to help determine people’s health. 

The report warns that women in the poorest parts of the north are no longer living as long because austerity hit their areas the hardest.

Warning that national leadership has actively gone ‘in the wrong direction’ due to the past ten years of Tory government not only ignored previous detailed recommendations aimed at tackling that divide - both between the north and south and the rich and poor – he concludes:
 
“Put simply, if health has stopped improving it is a sign that society has stopped improving.”

The original report was published when completed in 2010.

Funding must now be focused on the poorest areas that have seen the biggest cuts, the report says, including in the North, adding that another ten years of inaction would 'risk losing a generation'.

In highlighting the report in their Twitter feed, Hazards Campaign commented:

'Deregulation of health & safety making work nastier, more brutish and less secure plays a role. The Tory war on the working class from cradle to grave is shortening that journey for too many, and it must stop.'

The full report and executive summary can be downloaded from the E-Library, by clicking on the image above, using search word of 'Marmot'.

Source: Institute of Health Equity

Designed, Hosted and Maintained by Union Safety Services