EXCL Top Labour MP says Tory austerity could have fuelled spike in deaths
2 min read
A rise in deaths in the UK could be linked to the austerity programme imposed by the Conservative government, a Labour frontbencher has said.
Louise Haigh said it was “simply not conceivable” that Government cuts had “nothing to do” with a mortality spike since January 2015.
In an exclusive article for PoliticsHome's sister title the House Magazine, she argued the “sudden change” in figures looked “unnatural”.
The Shadow Policing Minister pointed to research by the British Medical Journal which said 10,000 more people died in the first seven weeks of 2018 compared with the year before - with no clear reason.
She said it was a “crisis that began” three years ago and cited struggling health and care services, under-pressure police forces and unstable incomes as possible factors.
“It is axiomatic that life expectancy cannot increase forever and a slowing in its growth and concurrent rise in mortality rates was at some point to be expected,” Ms Haigh wrote.
“But it’s the sudden change that looks unnatural.
“It coincides with the era of austerity and it is simply not conceivable that the state of our public realm had nothing to do with it.”
Ms Haigh noted that regional and class inequalities in health were “nothing new” but argued a “more distinct and recent change” was taking place.
And she added: “We know that increased mortality does not happen in a vacuum.
“And in an environment where constituents tell me they can’t get a GP’s appointment for several weeks, where people in work on insufficient hours need to visit a food bank and where care visits only last fifteen minutes, the toll on our collective health and wellbeing is going to be grave.”
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