All the main political parties have a commitment to reduce health inequalities. The experience of the last decade shows how hard this will be to achieve. Life expectancy has risen, but the gap between richest and poorest has not narrowed. Any government committed to reducing the health effects of social and economic inequalities will have to find a new whole of government approach.

The Test:

It may take a generation for important social changes to show up as reductions in inequalities in life expectancy. The test, therefore, is the degree to which a new government puts in place a cross-department strategy to deal with the 6 major domains that cause inequalities in health: early child development, educational performance, employment and working conditions, sufficient income for healthy living, sustainable and healthy neighbourhoods, action on prevention across the social gradient. Reductions in inequalities in all of these should be monitored and show progress in the direction of greater fairness