BRITAIN “cannot duck” the challenges of tackling inequalities in health, ethnicity, education and occupation when the coronavirus crisis abates, a review has warned.

The pandemic has revealed, and in some cases exacerbated, pervasive inequalities that may threaten the fabric of society, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) Deaton Review of Inequalities.

Without urgent action, these gaps will widen further, warned review chairman and Nobel laureate Sir Angus Deaton in a new year briefing.