Do you feel lonely at times?
A minister for loneliness has been appointed to help tackle the misery endured by around nine million Britons.
Theresa May has backed a series of recommendations made by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, which highlighted how widespread the problem is.
As well as announcing Tracey Crouch will become the minister responsible for the issue, the Prime Minister said a cross-government strategy to find ways to stop people feeling lonely will be published later this year.
A study by The Co-op and the British Red Cross showed more than nine million people always or often feel lonely, while Age UK found 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month and Scope said up to 85% of young disabled adults feel lonely.
The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Labour’s Rachel Reeves and Conservative Seema Kennedy, worked with 13 charities over the last year to help find solutions to the problem. Ms Reeves and Ms Kennedy said: “We are really pleased to see that the Government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said that ‘young or old, loneliness doesn’t discriminate’.
What is your experience? Do you feel lonely at times? How do you cope? What do you think should be done to tackle this widespread issue? If you were the new Minister for Loneliness what would you do?
