MP speaks on Bradford health inequalities in Parliament

Imran Hussain MP (Bradford East, Labour) spoke in Parliament about the impact of the cost of living crisis and council cuts on his constituents’ health. 

It comes more than a year after a £20 million bid to transform three community centres into wellbeing hubs was rejected.

Mr Hussain told Parliament: “My constituency has some of the highest levels of health inequalities in the country, which have been further increased by the cost of living crisis and the continual cuts to our council budgets. If the Government are serious about levelling up, why was Bradford East’s bid to reduce health inequalities knocked back?”

In response, Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said: “The Labour leadership in Bradford Council must look to its performance. I think there is a distinction to be drawn between the Labour leaderships in Leeds and in Bradford—Bradford could learn a lot from what Leeds has done. This is not a party political point; it is a point about failure specifically in Bradford.”

Mr Hussain later added: “The reality is that someone living in the inner city in the Bradford district is likely to live 20 years less than those living in the more affluent parts of the region.

"That has not just happened; it is a result of 14 years of underinvestment in and cuts to not only our NHS, but our community services. Will the Secretary of State just admit that the Government frankly could not care less about people from places such as Bradford, because otherwise they would have accepted my levelling-up bid, which would have addressed this injustice at its core?”

Imran Hussain, pictured during another Parliamentary session

Victoria Atkins, Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, responded: “I am so glad that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned levelling up, because presumably he will know from his bid that the 12 levelling-up missions are mutually reinforcing. Conservative Members take the approach that in order to help people with their health—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman is shouting at me. I thought that this answer would be important to his constituents.

“Levelling up is not just about health. It is about the impact of education, housing and other matters in our environment, which is why in the forthcoming major conditions strategy we will tie together the conditions that have the most impact on a healthy life. We will draw together a cross-Government strategy to help people who are living with those conditions to live longer but also healthier lives.”