The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, has appointed Tracey Crouch as minister to help tackle the loneliness suffered by an estimated nine million adults in the country.
Tracey Crouch is expected to lead a drive against a ‘social epidemic’ which experts say can be as unhealthy as heavy smoking.
Prime Minister May, who announced the appointment today, Wednesday, said that isolation is a sad reality of modern life for too many people, adding: “I want to confront this challenge and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by careers, by those who have lost loved ones, people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.”
The move was recommended in a report from the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. The Labour MP, who was murdered by a far-Right fanatic, had campaigned on the issue.
Mrs. May said that new minister would produce a cross-government strategy to combat loneliness later this year.
A study by the Co-op and the British Red Cross showed more than nine million people often feel lonely. Age UK says that 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month and Scope, even as another charity says that up to 85 per cent of young disabled adults also feel lonely.
Last month’s report from the Cox Commission identified new mothers and refugees as groups potentially vulnerable to isolation.
Miss Crouch, who will combine the loneliness brief with her role as minister for civil society and sport, last night pledged to honour the memory of Miss Cox.
She said: “I am sure that with the support of volunteers, campaigners, businesses and fellow MPs we can make significant progress in defeating loneliness.”
Miss Crouch has been asked to ‘pull together all strands of government’, including the Treasury, the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions.
Labour MP Rachel Reeves and Mrs May’s parliamentary aide, Seema Kennedy, worked with 13 charities over the past year to help find solutions for the commission’s report.
In a joint statement last night they welcomed the announcement, adding: ‘We are really pleased to see that the Government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response.’[myad]
