'Grotesque scandal of cancer divide shows Britain is two nations in one country'

11 December 2023 , 23:30

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There is a gulf between the north and south of England

The great cancer divide between the rich and poor is a grotesque scandal.

It is an outrage that deserves a sustained drive to end the gulf between two nations in one country. That working class people are far more likely to die from the disease than the middle and upper classes is a stain on our land.

Women in Knowsley, Merseyside, should not be at a three-fold increased risk of dying of lung cancer compared with women in Waverley, Surrey. Similarly it is a disgrace that one in five men in Manchester are expected to die from cancer before they turn 80, compared to one in eight Harrow in North West London.

The deadly disparity detailed by Imperial College London is the result of inequality and the failure of the Conservative Government to improve health across the board. We desperately need stronger initiatives to improve incomes because killers such as obesity are linked to poverty.

Instead the NHS had the life squeezed out of it, which has meant prevention and early detection have both been clobbered. When the nation’s poor are dying years earlier than the rich, the two nations, as described way back in 1845 by Benjamin Disraeli, is a political sacrifice of lives.

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