SIR – I hope that all politicians will welcome the findings of the Marmat Review into health concerns linked to inequality.

This report found that the poorest live, on average, seven years fewer than the wealthier due to inequalities in health and diet.

This illustrates the problems the Green Party have been highlighting for years about the low level of basic pay and the need to create a basic income that adds to the current levels of family and child tax credit and the minimum wage.

It also draws attention to the inequality in food. The wealthy middle classes can afford to enjoy organic food and a good diet. Those working on the margins and the unemployed have to make do with empty cupboards and eat cheap, un-nourishing food, which has the advantage of filling the belly but doesn’t provide enough to provide really healthy diets.

Buying organic and fresh food is impossible for a large number of people. I warmly welcome the debate that Prof Marmat’s review has ignited and hope that this issue will become a major debating point in the forthcoming election campaign.

David Ford, Bradford West Green Party candidate, Myrtle Place, Saltaire