Yesterday the Prime Minister made a statement following his attendance at the G20 meeting and on the terrorist attacks in Paris. It was clear from some of the questions from the Labour benches that there is disquiet in Labour ranks about the response of the Labour Leader to the threat we face. I was lucky enough to be called to ask a question to the Prime Minister and I asked for the new Investigatory Powers bill to be brought forward so that security services can have all the powers they need.
Prior to that in questions to the Department of Health I raised the question of the relative numbers of male suicides compared to female suicides. Figures from the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) show that male suicide is the biggest single killer of men aged under the age of 45 and last year 76% of all suicides were men. This is a subject I hope to return to in a Westminster Hall debate tomorrow.
Has the increase in suicide and self harm generally have anything to do with the chronic underfunding of mental health services, the lack of beds and the vast sums of money spent on private beds?
Did you connect the rise in suicides to the new regimen at the DWP. Huffingtonpost had a story yesterday saying 600 suicides can be linked to it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/16/dwp-suicides-assessments-research_n_8577038.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics&ir=UK+Politics