The British Medical Journal has produced a study of voting habits and health which the Telegraph has helpfully amplified.
It should make sobering reading for anyone the left.
The unhealthiest Constituency in the UK is Clacton, which has the highest mortality rate under 75 of anywhere in the country and 20% of people have never had a job. What is the local MP doing about this? Presumably not a lot because he is rarely there.
The BMJ study shows that there is a clear link between class, poverty, health and voting Reform. The top unhealthiest Constituencies are held by Reform MPs. The plan to address this seems to involve privatising the NHS and making people take out health insurance who cant afford to do so (as in the US).
Even so these are issues which should be key campaigning points for the left. Not just because they are worth campaigning on but because getting rid of a class divide on health was and still should be at the centre of what the NHS is all about.
The Telegraph notes
Of course, it’s not that being a fan of Nigel Farage makes you unhealthy. Rather, people who live in deprived areas are more likely to vote for Reform UK (60 per cent of Reform’s current seats are in the most deprived parts of the country, compared with 30 per cent of Labour’s, the analysis in the BMJ shows) and people in deprived areas are also much more likely to have poor health.
It has been clear since the 30s hence the Beveridge report through to the 80s and the Black report that poverty and poor health are intertwined. That poverty and right support goes back to the 30s too and needs organised resistance. Cable Street shows the way…..