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Health Inequalities

I congratulate the hon. Member for Wigan (Mr. Turner) on bringing forward this vital debate. He has long campaigned for those of his constituents who have been adversely affected by health inequalities under the present Government. I note also his work chairing the special interest group of municipal authorities within the Local Government Association, particularly with reference to its report of last month, ““Caring for All: balancing fairness and stability in the funding of local services””. He slightly spoilt his introduction by, of course, attempting some party political point scoring. Perhaps I can help him. I do not know where he has been in the past few days, but recent events suggest that he may need to catch up—that in fact the Prime Minister has bottled it and ignominiously retreated from facing the electorate, having marched him and all his colleagues up the hill.