BRITONS have the most mental health problems of any rich country, figures have revealed, as ministers battle a surge in benefit claims linked to conditions like anxiety, depression or addiction.
Some 28 per cent of Britons have a mental disorder such as depression, anxiety or addiction, an analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found.
The figure is the highest among 44 mostly rich countries covered by the report.
It puts the UK well ahead of other similar economies, such as France at 23 per cent and Germany at 19 per cent. The Netherlands ranks second at 27 per cent.
Former Labour PM Tony Blair this week urged ministers to cut the number of people receiving health and disability benefits by introducing an ‘emergency handbrake’.
The Tony Blair Institute, the former prime minister’s think tank, said people with conditions such as mild depression, anxiety or ADHD should be cut off from cash benefits. This is after costs have spiralled.
The OECD’s figures show that anxiety is the most prevalent mental health problem in the UK, followed by depression, affecting 12 per cent and 7 per cent of Britons respectively.
The findings follow a sharp rise in sickness and disability benefit claims, fuelled by poor mental health and conditions like ADHD and autism.
But with overall UK unemployment at five per cent, including nearly one million young people aged 16- 24 years, not in education or employment, mental health issues are rampant among them.
Yesterday Cressida Hogg, chairwoman of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) attacked PM Keir Starmer’s minimum wage policies for pricing young people out of work.
Currently, the national living wage requires people aged 21 and over to be paid £12.71 an hour, an increase of 50p on last year, while those aged between 18 and 20 must receive £10.85 an hour. This is up 85p on last year.
Calling for cuts in the minimum wage, Hogg said: ‘The fact is, the government’s long-term ambition to abolish minimum wage youth rates would make it harder still for firms to offer a first chance to young people.’ Labour’s election manifesto in 2024 vowed to ‘remove the discriminatory age bands, so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage’.
However sustained increases in the rate are partially blamed for driving youth unemployment up to 16 per cent, higher than Covid lockdown levels.
The number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training – has also risen close to one million, most of whom are young men.
The CBI boss said that businesses must cope with higher costs by protecting the people they already employ rather than hiring new staff.
Meanwhile, the hotel giant Premier Inn announced yesterday that 3,800 jobs, 13 per cent of its workforce in the UK and Ireland, will be cut to save £250m, blaming government tax raids for driving up its cost.
With more bad news, the Band of England (BoE) governor Andrew Bailey warned yesterday that the Iran war risks pushing inflation above 6 per cent, as it told households and business to prepare for higher interest rates.
Policymakers voted 8-1 to keep interest rates on hold at 3.75 per cent but warned that a persistent energy price shock would warrant a ‘forceful’ response with multiple rate hikes to control inflation.
However, governor Bailey also warned that further price rises were inevitable, even if the Iranian war is resolved quickly.
The consumer group, Which?, yesterday revealed its crisis figures. These were that three million families are skipping meals to save money as living costs surge and unemployment rises.
Now is the time for the working class to demand the recall of the TUC Congress to organise a general strike to bring down this hated bosses’ government of Starmer and Co to make way for a workers’ government and a socialist revolution.
Join the Workers Revolutionary Party today to organise the British Socialist revolution to dump capitalism where it belongs – the dustbin of history!
