Tackling Loneliness and Connecting Communities

Christian Wakeford Excerpts

Wednesday 21st June 2023 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon]

I only jest—I would never do that.

I was referring to the importance of Men’s Sheds, and the hon. Member for Glenrothes (Peter Grant) had just intervened on me. It is so important to have that cup of tea, chat and social engagement. Men’s Sheds are springing up all over my constituency, as I mentioned earlier, and the rationale is clear: let men come together and learn to talk freely, to express themselves and to help each other.

[Christian Wakeford (Bury South) (Lab)]

While we are talking about loneliness, there is a stigma around mental health issues, especially for men, which can lead to suicide. While we support the important work of Men’s Sheds, there are also fantastic organisations like Andy’s Man Club rocking up all over the country. Anything we can do to help prevent that stigma, we should be doing.

[Jim Shannon]

It is wonderful when we all hear in these debates about the organisations, individuals and volunteers who reach out to try to make people’s lives better. It is not just Men’s Sheds either. Another wonderful project that has sprung up in my constituency of Strangford is the Ards Community Network, where the wonderful Cathy Polley has secured funding for projects aimed at women who need support from others. I mentioned the Men’s Sheds; I also want to mention the good things that have come from the women’s projects. The team there provide yoga classes and mummy-daughter evenings in which women from all areas of the community can come together and learn new skills, or just have a chat with a cup of tea and a Fox’s biscuit—or maybe another biscuit—and relax. Again, it is so encouraging and helpful that so many women of different ages who may not have naturally met are now meeting and bonding. That is what it is all about: reaching out and doing more. The wonderful work in communities is only achieved with funding. In these days of austerity, community groups that put on funded events connect those who need it most—those who are struggling financially, who cannot meet their friends for a dinner out or take their children to the cinema, or who feel constrained.

The hon. Member for Batley and Spen made an important point about what families do: sometimes when you haven’t got the money, you sit in the house, you do not bring your friends round and you cannot go to anybody else’s house. Those are real problems. I am pleased that in my constituency of Strangford we see the Men’s Sheds and the women’s groups thriving. The young farmers’ club, which I spoke about earlier, reaches out in the countryside. We have more suicides among men in rural communities in Northern Ireland than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. That tells me of the pressures of isolation and loneliness. Like others, there are times when on a nice day it is just me and the dog. It gives me a chance to think and to switch off. But for other people, that loneliness is all day and it becomes a real problem.

The debate underlines the message to the Minister: no one has to feel alone. We can help, and that help starts with the funding initiatives and volunteer initiatives that allow young farmers’ clubs or local community groups to speak to and reach into people’s lives. We are blessed to be the Members of Parliament for our constituencies. We have our ears close to the ground, we hear what people are saying, and we are pleased to recognise all those who do good work, reach out and help people. What a great day it is whenever we as MPs are able to make lives better—that is what it is really all about.

--- Later in debate ---

[Christian Wakeford (Bury South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq.

Loneliness kills. It does not discriminate, and it does not care how much money someone has, what career they have done or who they are. As has been outlined in the debate, without the right support at the right time, loneliness can very quickly move from a temporary feeling to a chronic state, and damage both our physical and mental health. A study in 2015 found that feeling lonely is as bad for people’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Last year, another study found that only 3% of people who feel regularly lonely feel that life is worth living. Just think about that for a moment. Place yourself in those people’s shoes and imagine feeling so lonely—without people, without hope and without support—that you would rather not be alive. That is the case for millions of people across this country.

Many lonely people describe themselves as feeling trapped, without purpose and frustrated. Loneliness is devastating for our physical and mental health, and therefore has a detrimental impact on our public services as well. We had an opportunity in this country to reconnect with people, to engage with communities and to almost start again after the pandemic. If there was one silver lining from that time, it was that we all came together to reach out to those who were lonely, whether it was to help with prescriptions and shopping, or just calling a neighbour. I do not think that we will soon forget how helpless and isolating the pandemic made many of us feel, because although we were connected to everyone, we were not connected to anyone at the same time.

[Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) (Con)]

To amplify the hon. Gentleman’s point, one of the things that the pandemic taught us all was the psychological impact of being lonely, because we were disconnected from our usual social networks. Does he think that there would be much value in public health messaging that, as well as emphasising the need to maintain our physical wellbeing by looking after our health and avoiding obesity, and the need to look after our mental health, started to articulate good social health, too?

[Christian Wakeford]

I do not know what to say, other than I agree wholeheartedly with what the hon. Member says. Far too often we talk about physical health, and we keep on talking about parity with mental health, but we certainly do not talk about social health. It is only when we get all three working that we can truly thrive not only as individuals, but as a nation.

As I was saying, I do not think that we will soon forget how helpless and isolating the pandemic made many of us feel, but we were the lucky ones. We had a job to go to. We often had family around us and processes to distract us. We were grinning and bearing it, but imagine what it must have felt like for those without any of that, who were already isolated and who became increasingly more so because of a global pandemic. They were waiting for the phone to ring, as days or even weeks went by without a knock on the door and with no one to speak to. Even it was a political canvasser who people did not want to see, that might have been their only contact for some time.

Post pandemic, however, I fear that we have missed the moment. I really hope I am wrong on that, because loneliness needs to be at the forefront of decision makers’ minds. As the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch) said, from house building to transport connections, social policy, charity work and sporting elements, we need a truly holistic and wraparound solution to tackle loneliness, and we need to start it now. I do not want to make this issue party political, though, because I think we can all agree that we want to make loneliness a thing of the past. As my hon. Friend the Member for Batley and Spen (Kim Leadbeater) said, we should all grasp the Government’s strategy for loneliness with both hands, but I would like them to look at providing more money in the area. In the grand scheme of things, the spending costs are not that great a deal, but the social impact really is huge.

I truly welcome today’s debate, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford for securing it. It is not only timely, but very necessary. By raising this crucial issue today, we can reach out to people in our communities. We can talk again about social prescribing, as we have done in this debate. Fantastic groups in my constituency and across the country, such as Incredible Edible in Radcliffe and Prestwich, are not only doing great work in community growing, but making sure that people have the choice of being able to speak to someone. By working together, we can reduce the stigma surrounding loneliness and, ultimately, tackle it once and for all.

[Dr Rupa Huq (in the Chair)]

I call the first of the Front Benchers—for the SNP, Peter Grant.