Labour MPs urge the prime minister to ring-fence mental health spending

The prime minister must ring fence mental health spending, a group of Labour MPs have demanded.

The 160 strong group, led by president of the Labour Campaign for Mental Health Luciana Berger, have urged the PM to mark World Mental Health Day by guaranteeing this funding.

Noting that parity of esteem for mental and physical health is now enshrined in law, which should mean that they legally must be treated equally, they write “We would like to see this aspiration become a reality and believe ring-fencing will get us one step closer to real equality for mental health.”

They continue: “We see this injustice every day in our constituencies. Our constituents face long waits to access mental health services, if they get a referral at all. The number of young people and adults turning up at A&E in a crisis continues to rise. The amount and quality of contact provided in the community has diminished significantly. And too often inpatient treatment means leaving family and friends for a unit hundreds of miles from home.”

Berger is joined by fellow Liverpool MPs Dan Carden, Louise Ellman and Stephen Twigg as well as frontbenchers Jonathan Ashworth, Debbie Abrahams and Marsha de Cordova in supporting the letter.

She tweeted out the full text of the letter to the PM:

On the eve of #WMHD17 160 @UKLabour MPs have written to the PM to ask that mental health funding is ring-fenced. Now is the time for action. pic.twitter.com/R8IHd50Dm2

— Luciana Berger (@lucianaberger) October 9, 2017