Tag Archives: life expectancy

29 July 2025 – yesterday’s press releases

  • Davey on Southport attacks one year on: We are a caring country not one of thuggery
  • Davey calls for Lord Hermer to publish legal advice on Gazan aid blockade
  • Anglian Water fine: Lib Dems urge “No More Sewage, No More Excuses”
  • Lib Dems: “If Trump really loves Scotland, why is he hammering Scotch whisky with tariffs?”
  • Cole-Hamilton accuses SNP of serial failures on A&E, care and drugs
  • Cole-Hamilton responds to decline in healthy life expectancy

Davey on Southport attacks one year on: We are a caring country not one of thuggery

Reflecting on the one year anniversary of the Southport attacks, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said:

Today especially, we hold in our hearts Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar.

Three little girls, horrifyingly murdered at their Taylor Swift dance class in Southport. Three young lives, so cruelly cut short by a heartbreaking tragedy.

Our thoughts are with their families and friends, who still grieve such a cruel loss.

The lawless riots that followed appalled us. Egged on by hate preachers and conspiracy theorists, thugs resorted to appalling racism and violence, targeting some of the most vulnerable in our society.

But last summer also saw the best of the British people. Everyone who came together with love and compassion to mourn the deaths of Bebe, Elsie and Alice. And all those who stood peacefully in solidarity against the riots. Who powerfully rejected racism and Islamophobia.

That is who we are: a caring country, not a country of thuggery. A nation of laws and decency, not hate and lawlessness.

As we grieve today – as we remember Bebe, Elsie and Alice – let us also remember that.

Davey calls for Lord Hermer to publish legal advice on Gazan aid blockade

Commenting ahead of a Cabinet recall on the conflict in the Middle East, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called for the Attorney General Lord Hermer to publish his legal advice to the Government, saying:

There can be no denying that Israel has egregiously breached international law through its devastating blockade of Gaza.

The Australian Prime Minister said this two days ago. And yet the UK Government continues to drag its feet on describing these acts as anything more than merely “risking” a breach.

Actions speak louder than words. It’s time for the Attorney General to publish the legal advice he has given to the Government on the Netanyahu cabinet’s grotesque restriction of aid to Gazans.

Anglian Water fine: Lib Dems urge “No More Sewage, No More Excuses”

Liberal Democrat MP Pippa Heylings has condemned Anglian Water’s repeated failings, following Ofwat’s damning £62.8 million fine for the company’s illegal dumping of raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters.

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment

“Society has stopped improving”

That is the bleak message of Professor Sir Michael Marmot in his major new report on health inequality. Entitled ‘Health Equity in England: the Marmot Review 10 Years On’, it assesses lack of progress in the last decade, since his review in 2010 entitled ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’.

He writes:

Since 2010 life expectancy has stalled: this has not happened since at least 1900. If health has stopped improving it is a sign that society has stopped improving.

This damage to health has been largely unnecessary.

Health is closely linked to the conditions in which people are born, live, work and age, and inequities in power, money and resources.

He repeats the well-understood expectation that, “The more deprived the area, the shorter the life expectancy”, but finds that inequalities in life expectancy have increased. “Among women in the most deprived areas, life expectancy fell between 2010/12 and 2016-18.” For both men and women, he continues, the largest decreases in life expectancy were seen in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods in the North-East, and the largest increases in the least deprived 10% of neighbourhoods in London.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 193 Comments

Opinion: Are current state pension arrangements fair?

Two stories jumped out at me this week as being deeply connected. Stephen Tall praised Ed Balls for not ignoring the huge chunk of welfare spending that goes to pensioners. Then, a new website from Public Health England reminded us of the country’s large health inequalities. These inequalities should give us extra cause to question the fairness of current spending on pensioners.

As Stephen wrote “Spending on the state pension will increase by nearly 20% in real terms between 2010–11 and 2017–18.” The challenge of an ageing population was present even before the financial crisis. It’s now …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 15 Comments
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