Unhealthy lifestyles in deprived communities are stoking a series of economic and policy challenges in the UK, a new paper from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) suggests.

The paper says health inequalities between the richest and poorest have reversed the post-1945 increase in life expectancy, while boosting both NHS waiting lists and welfare spending. It has also driven the politically toxic post-Brexit rise in immigration through distorting local labour markets – exacerbating other national challenges such as the housing shortage.

Without a major drive aimed at deterring unhealthy lifestyles, the paper warns, health inequalities and the economic and social pressures they breed will continue to soar.

Neil Singh Bedi, a fourth-year medical student at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, was recently awarded the 2025 Paul Ambrose Outstanding Student Award from the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), American Public Health Association, and the Physicians for Social Responsibility.