The call from The Health Foundation came after ONS figures revealed a drop in life expectancy at birth in England and Wales on pre-pandemic levels.

David Finch, assistant director of Healthy Lives at the Health Foundation, said the ONS figures show a ‘concerning lack of progress in life expectancy for England and Wales'.

Finch called on chancellor Rachel Reeves to ‘take bold steps to ensure the Budget supports the improvement of the nation's health and well-being and meets their manifesto commitment of boosting employment and the economy'.

He added: ‘This requires a preventative approach to government public service spending plans, a new focus on supporting people with health conditions to stay in work and maintaining financial support for people with low incomes whose health keeps them out of the labour market.'

The ONS data showed life expectancy at birth was 79 years for men and 83 years for women in England and Wales in 2021 to 2023.

This was up by 13 weeks from 78.8 years for males and 11 weeks from 82.8 years for females, compared with 2020 to 2022.

However, life expectancy at birth is 26 weeks lower for males and 13 weeks lower for females, compared with 2017 to 2019, the last complete period before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.