Answer:
today I want to talk about one of the most serious challenges our country faces.
One that writes people off in just that way.
Affecting:
North and south.
Rich and poor.
Old and young.
Those who work and those who can’t.
Disabled and non-disabled people.
A problem that can strike anyone.
It blights millions of lives.
And undermines the welfare of our nation.
And it is also a challenge that affects our competitiveness as a country.
That places a huge strain on our public services.
And that costs our economy tens of billions of pounds a year.
I am talking, of course, about the challenge of mental health.
From the people living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to those fighting bouts of depression and panic attacks.
Now, you would think a widespread and important challenge like this would be something we would all talk about.
That it would be top of the political agenda.
That every leading politician would be obliged to address to it.
That we would be falling over each other, as we do, to prove that we had a solution.
But that doesn’t tend to happen.
For far too long leading politicians from all parties, including my own, have maintained an almost complete silence about mental health.
Only in emergencies and at the extreme end of conditions do we tend to talk about the issue.
Now there will be some people who say that mental health is the kind of subject we can talk about in the good times, but not when the economy is such a priority.
In my view, that is the opposite of the truth.
Because mental health is an economic challenge holding back prosperity.
Because however hard the economic challenges, we cannot forget about people’s quality of life.
And, finally, if we want a politics that talks directly to the challenges that British people face in their everyday lives, we cannot allow the silence to continue.
Taboo
And it’s not just politics that is too silent.
It is a taboo running across our society which infects both our culture and our politics.
It is a taboo which not only blights the lives of millions but also puts severe strain on the funding of our NHS and threatens Britain’s ability to pay our way in the world.
It is a taboo which must be broken if we are to rebuild Britain as One Nation.
Mental health is subject we all, whoever we are, still instinctively avoid.
At home, in the workplace and in our communities, it tends to be brushed under the carpet.
Teachers and our parents are unlikely to talk to us about mental illness when we are young.
And we all fear the unknown.
Explanation:
