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Health Inequalities

I am grateful. I am sure that the hon. Member for Wigan will agree with me that the fact that this debate is being held 10 years into the rule of a party that pledged from the outset to stand against such inequalities says something about the impact that his party has had—or rather has not had—on the country. I represent a constituency in the north-west, which is particularly well represented in the debate this morning, and that fact is important. I also want to thank the hon. Gentleman, who is a well-known Wigan rugby league club supporter, for ceding Jason Robinson into union, without whom England might not have succeeded so well at the weekend. Under the present Government the relative gap in life expectancy for men has increased by nearly 2 per cent, and for women it has increased by 5 per cent. The latest figures on infant mortality confirm the previously reported trend. Despite overall improvements, the relative gap between the routine and manual groups and the population as a whole has widened over recent years, since the target baseline; and the number of sexually transmitted infections has doubled over recent years.