London's big earners masking reality of UK's 'poor country' status, says Sir Michael Marmot

Sir Michael published a seminal Government-commissioned review into health inequalities in England in 2010 and is director the University College of London’s Institute of Health Equity, criticised t

He highlighted research which showed while the UK’s highest earners match their counterparts in countries like Norway, those in the middle and at the bottom are well below.

He said: “Norway's a rich country. We are a poor country with some rich people.

“If you take UK GDP, and remove the richest region, London, GDP goes down by 14 per cent. If you go to Germany and remove the richest region, Munich, GDP doesn't change essentially.

“If you remove London from the UK, we are as poor as Mississippi – the poorest state in the US. The UK is Mississippi plus London.

"Mississippi is a very poor place to live, with very poor health and social services. That is where we are. I don’t think that’s right and the future depends on changing that.”

Earlier in his talk, Sir Michael criticised how the austerity measures of the 2010s had hit poorer areas of the country the hardest.

He said: "The shorter the life expectancy of a local area in 2010, the steeper the reduction in government funding. In what moral universe could that be the right thing to do? Is it possible that the government looked and said 'The sicker the area, the more money we'll take away from them?'. Or is it absent-mindedness, did they take the money away for some other reason? Does that make it any better?

"They have destroyed local government and destroyed it more in the deprived, sicker areas where they need it most.”

Last month, Sir Michael wrote to 58 MPs across England to highlight “particularly concerning health trends” in their constituencies.

Analysis from the Institute of Health Equity found people’s health has deteriorated, health inequalities have widened, and the north-south health gap has increased.

A Government spokesperson, responding prior to the election being called, said at the time: “As set out in our Levelling Up White Paper, we are committed to narrowing the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030 and to increasing healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035.

“Our upcoming Major Conditions Strategy will help us do this, by tackling the key drivers of ill-health in England.

“We are also investing £15 billion in local communities across the UK as part of our long-term plan to level up, ensure opportunity is spread more equally and to reduce inequalities.

“We have given councils in England up to £64.7 billion through the Government Finance Settlement for 2024 to 2025, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5 per cent in cash terms.”