Can voting Labour lead to an early demise?

Analysis of trends in premature mortality by Labour voting in the 1997 general election

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In this week's BMJ, Dorling, Davey Smith and Shaw describe how mortality relates to voting patterns in different areas. Generally, mortality is higher in Labour areas, reflecting underlying socio-economic and health inequality.

In 1997, the incoming Labour government made the reduction of health inequality a principal policy aim. The authors warn that the targets will be difficult to achieve for two reasons. Firstly, factors influencing inequalities in child health act from an early age and may not respond rapidly to social change; secondly the Labour government has not yet succeeded in reducing social inequality.

The authors use premature death as an indicator of which groups have fared best under the present government and find that, in absolute terms, mortality has improved. However mortality has tended to improve most in areas with the fewest Labour voters.

In the tenth of the population with the second highest Labour vote, death rates have actually increased. Relatively, things have got worse for people in Labour voting areas, mirroring trends in income inequality which have increased during the period of the Labour government.

Contacts:

George Davey Smith. Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

Tel: +44-117-928-7329 or +44-777-591-1018
Email: george.davey-smith@bristol.ac.uk

or Dr Mary Shaw

Tel: +44-771-436-4901
Email: Mary.shaw@bristol.ac.uk

or Professor Danny Dorling

Tel: +44-113-233-3347 or Tel: +44-777-076-6450