People in County Durham are “suffering avoidable ill-health and living shorter lives than they should”, according to a new analysis.

MPs across the county have been criticised by a leading health equity expert Professor Sir Michael Marmot over “particularly concerning health trends” in their constituencies.

They include City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy, North West Durham MP and Tory party Chair Richard Holden and Hexham MP and Roads Minister Guy Opperman.

The new analysis, by academics from the Institute of Health Equity at University College London (UCL), highlights the Durham and Northumberland areas among those “falling behind” when it comes to health.

Sir Michael told the MPs: “If you care about the health of your constituents, you must be appalled by their deteriorating health. It’s time for action and political leadership across the board.”

Researchers examined every local authority in England to plot levels of health, inequalities in health, and cuts in their spending power.

They identified 17 local authorities with statistically significant increases in inequalities in life expectancy between 2010-12 and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sir Michael has written letters to the 58 MPs whose constituencies lie wholly or partially in these areas.

Nationally they include former PM Liz Truss and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove.

“We need you to fight for all your constituents’ health. They are suffering avoidable ill-health and living shorter lives than they should due to poor policies and cuts to essential services,” Sir Michael wrote.

He said: “It is no surprise that local authorities are struggling to make ends meet and that people are living shorter lives than they should.

“If you slash the services that support people health will be harmed. Levelling up was supposed to provide badly needed funding for the most deprived areas. But it was a derisory amount and, as a result, never going to improve health.

“This is a dismal state of affairs. I’m saying to party leaders: stop policies harming health and widening health inequalities.”

The wider North East England recorded the largest increase in inequality for both male and female life expectancy from 2010-12 to 2017-19, according to the research.

Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy, one of those to receive a letter, said: “I am grateful to Professor Sir Michael Marmot, and the Institute of Health Equity (IHE) at UCL, for this important report.

“It provides further evidence that austerity has been disastrous for public health.

“We know, for instance, that over 300,000 people died because of austerity between 2012 and 2019.

“As a North East MP, I am outraged that my region has suffered the largest widening of inequalities in life expectancy.

“I hold the Conservative Party responsible for this catastrophe; after all, health inequalities are avoidable. They are a political choice.

“Policymakers can’t say they weren’t told, either. The IHE has provided blueprints to reduce health inequalities since 2010.

“For the health of our constituents, MPs must listen to public health experts and take their advice seriously so that these alarming trends can be reversed.”

A Government spokesperson said: “As set out in our Levelling Up White Paper, we are committed to narrowing the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030 and to increasing healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035.

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“Our upcoming Major Conditions Strategy will help us do this, by tackling the key drivers of ill-health in England.

“We are also investing £15 billion in local communities across the UK as part of our long-term plan to level up, ensure opportunity is spread more equally and to reduce inequalities.

“We have given councils in England up to £64.7 billion through the Government Finance Settlement for 2024 to 2025, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms.”