Poor health takes older people out of the workforce, reducing local incomes and buying power.
Most of the action has been over Covid-related divisions. And most of the dissenters are from older intakes.
The tellers for the Noes were Christopher Chope and Chris Green. The last major Tory rebellion against Government Covid policy was 53 strong.
That’s the biggest Tory revolt so far on a virus-related division, and enough potentially to defeat the Government in future.
They included seven former Cabinet Ministers, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the Chairman of the 1922 Executive Committee.
MPs should be allowed to decide if former Ministers are capable of offering independent scrutiny to their successors.
Several Ministers helped to see off the Government’s best hope of avoiding a full-on crisis in the Party – and perhaps of saving Brexit too.
We currently have it at 189 declared for May, versus the 31 publicly opposed, and 93 undeclared.
A consequence of the new Code of Conduct may be that he is referred to a panel – whether Number Ten wants it or not.
The real capacity problem is that up to 25 per cent of patients in hospital beds need not be there. We must improve access to social care.