'Cash needed to fight health crisis'

Ms Abbott said that health inequality was "stubborn, persistent and difficult to change" but insisted government must face up to the challenge.

The Morning Star reported last week how census analysis revealed that the portion of people with at least "good" health has fallen again across the north of England, the Midlands and Wales.

And the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said the health of people in "those areas that rely most on public-sector jobs" will get worse under the Tory-led government.

Pointing to research that shows infant mortality among low-skilled workers is almost twice that of professionals, she said: "Unemployment, with all its well-known poor health outcomes, will hit already deprived areas."

Ms Abbott set out her vision for public health as part of Labour's major policy review last week.

Unite union health experts insist that a Labour government should invest in preventing poor health rather than just curing it.

And Ms Abbott told the Star: "There needs to be action across a number of areas of British life - including education, housing and transport.

"We need to build a society where someone's health and life chances are not determined by their social status at birth."