Barbara is supporting Age UK’s campaign “No one should have no one at Christmas.” The campaign aims to raise awareness and to tackle the heart-breaking fact that the festive season will be a very lonely time of year for many older people.

The campaign highlights that more than a million older people across the country say they haven’t spoken to a friend, neighbour or family member for over a month. Last year, Age UK found that nearly 400,000 people aged 65+ in the UK were worried about being lonely over Christmas. New research from Age UK shows that as many as three fifths of people aged over 65 aren’t expecting festive happiness to be part of their Christmas this year.

As Shadow Minister for Older People, Barbara supports Age UK in asking people to check in on older neighbours, relatives and friends and to sign its petition calling on the Government to recognise loneliness as a serious health problem and commit to action to help tackle it.

Barbara said:

“While many people in Salford will be celebrating with friends and family at Christmas, we must also remember that some older people will be feeling lonely and missing loved ones who have passed away.”

“Age UK are asking people to do what they can to ensure that older people feel valued and included. The Government needs to recognise loneliness as a serious health problem and it should take action to help prevent loneliness for older people.”

“I fully support Age UK’s campaign and I hope that it helps older people who have no-one to share Christmas with.”

You can sign the petition and read more about the campaign here.