FIGURES showing that women in England’s poorest areas die younger than others in comparable countries are a “shaming indictment of a Tory government that lacks a moral compass,” Labour’s left charged today.

Millions of women living in the most deprived locations can expect to live an average of 78.7 years — almost eight years fewer than those in the wealthiest parts, according to independent charity the Health Foundation.

That figure is worse than the average life expectancy for women in nearly all 38 of the richer nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), Mexico being the only exception at an average 77.9 years. 

Life expectancy for women in Britain’s poorest areas, which include Blackpool, Liverpool and Middlesbrough, is well below the national average of 83.1, England’s median of 83.2, and the OECD’s figure of 83.4, the analysis reveals.

Women in the richest 10 per cent of locations, such as the Chiltern district of Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Rutland, tend to reach an average of 86.4 years: higher than the overall life expectancy for women in any OECD country except Japan at 87.3 years.

The foundation’s director of health Jo Bibby said: “The government has committed to addressing stalling life expectancy and this has been described as a core part of the levelling-up agenda.

“However, it has so far failed to acknowledge the mountain it needs to climb to bring life chances in the UK in line with other comparable countries.”

Labour’s Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald told the Morning Star: “This is a shaming indictment of a Tory government that has absolutely no moral compass.

“They have made deliberate economic choices resulting in growing inequalities and increasing poverty. It’s not going to change while they remain in power.”

Shadow women & equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds accused Tory ministers of failing women.

“Everywhere you look the Tories are letting women down, whether it’s their inability to confront the cost-of-living crisis, their broken promise to deliver a women’s health strategy or their failure to tackle the entrenched structural inequalities in healthcare that are putting black, Asian and minority ethnic women at risk.”

A Department of Health & Social Care spokesman said: “Our health disparities white paper, due later this year, will set out action to reduce the gap in health outcomes so that people’s backgrounds do not dictate their prospects for a healthy life.”