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Public Health (England)

It would be nice if every time there were a general election, we could start with a blank piece of paper and a situation in which what had gone before had no effect on the people of today. The fact is that, when we came to power in 1997, there were more children living in poverty and we did not have the sort of programmes that address health inequalities. I make no bones about the challenge of shifting the effects of not just 18 years of the Tories, but hundreds of years of health inequalities. We take responsibility for setting in motion the ways in which we can address that problem and we are making progress in a number of areas. That is not to say that there is not more to be done, but one has to start by understanding the problem and then trying to change society. That is what the Government are about. We are making progress and we will continue to do so.