Jeremy Corbyn sparks life expectancy row with local election launch speech

Jeremy Corbyn’s claim the Conservatives have caused life expectancy to drop has sparked a row between the Labour leader and the Tory party chairman.

In a speech to launch Labour’s local elections campaign, Mr Corbyn claimed life expectancy had fallen by a year for 65-year-old women and six months for 65-year-old men since 2013.

He said: "The truth is that the Tories are running our country down.

"Home ownership, opportunities for our children, wages and conditions at work, the NHS, care for our elderly, and now, life expectancy: they’re all going backwards, run down by a Conservative government that looks after those at the top and manages decline for the rest of us."

Patrick McLoughlin hit back after extracts of the speech were disclosed on Monday evening, telling the Labour leader he "couldn’t even get his basic facts right".

He claimed figures showed that life expectancy was still improving – just more slowly than in recent years, quoting experts at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and its CMI Mortality Projections Model.

Mr McLoughlin said: "Labour can’t even get their basic facts right – there’s no way they would run your council or our country properly.

"They are out of touch, divided and would leave ordinary working people worse off with their incompetence."

But, following his speech, Mr Corbyn returned fire, accusing the Tories of a cover up – and quoting his own "experts".

He said: "It is a disgrace that life expectancy projections for those aged 45 and 65 have fallen and even more of a disgrace that the government is trying to cover it up."

Labour is predicted to be on course for a catastrophic performance in the local elections – the worst since 1985.

According to election expert Robert Hayward, Mr Corbyn’s party could lose as many as 125 seats in councils across England, Scotland and Wales.

When questioned at the campaign launch on the polls, which show Labour trailing the Conservatives, Mr Corbyn said: "The polls suggest that people are also worried about the NHS, very worried about the housing crisis facing this country and very unhappy how our schools funding is being dealt with by this Government, we will be emphasising this during this campaign."

(c) Sky News 2017: Jeremy Corbyn sparks life expectancy row with local election launch speech