Austerity increased rates of premature births in UK, research says

Austerity measures, originally introduced by the coalition government in 2010, led to a dramatic increase in premature births and low-weight births, a new study has shown.

Birth rates in Scotland found “marked increases” in babies born smaller or prematurely were particularly evident in the most deprived areas, according to the researchers.

The study, published in the European Journal of Medicine, showed trends in low birth rates and premature birth changes within one to three years after austerity was implemented. Premature birth was the main driver of smaller weights.

For babies born in the 20 per cent most deprived areas premature birth rates increased by around 25 per cent, after declining year on year prior 2012.

Researchers said: “Hugely concerning changes to health outcomes have been observed in the UK since the early 2010s, including reductions in life expectancy and widening of inequalities. These have been attributed to UK government ‘austerity’ policies which have profoundly affected poorer populations.”

It added: “Given that austerity policies seem to be continuing under the new Labour government, it is vital that policymakers of all political parties in the UK fully understand the evidence of worsening birth trends, their likely causes, and their future implications for child and adult health.”

The findings come after chancellor Rachel Reeves, insisted ahead of her Budget announcement this week would be “no return to austerity” for the UK.

Last month Lord Ara Dazi, in a report commissioned by the government warned austerity and starvation of investment had left the NHS at an all time low when the pandemic hit.

He said: “In the last 15 years,” he continued, “the NHS was hit by three shocks – austerity and starvation of investment, confusion caused by top-down reorganisation, and then the pandemic, which came with resilience at an all-time low. Two out of three of those shocks were choices made in Westminster.”

The study also found changes in birth rates occurred alongside increases in the rates of child poverty, brought about by “vast vast cuts to the social security budget by the UK Government.”

The study said: When viewed alongside the extensive evidence of the negative impact of austerity policies (particularly in the UK) on a wide range of social and health outcomes including food bank reliance, homelessness, poor mental health and mortality increases, the policy implications in terms of the urgent need to avoid future austerity are obvious.”

The Conservative Party was approached for comment.

A government spokesperson said: “This research is further proof of the dire inheritance of this government and why we will not return to austerity. We want to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history and we will work across government to tackle inequalities in health, with a focus on prevention.

“Our new cross-government taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy to ensure every child has the best start in life and we are also focusing on early years with initiatives like free breakfast clubs in all primary schools.”

This story was updated with a comment from the government at 14:33.