Please find below the British Heart Foundation's comment on Labour's ambition to reduce deaths from heart attacks and strokes by a quarter over the next decade if they get into Government.

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: "Heart and circulatory diseases are responsible for one death every three minutes in the UK, so we're heartened to see that Labour recognises the bold ambition needed to better prevent, diagnose, treat and focus research on some of the nation’s biggest killers.

“Medical research has helped us make great strides in saving lives from heart attacks and strokes over the last 60 years. But the pace of progress had slowed even before the pandemic, and heart and circulatory disease death rates have now increased. 

"With the current extreme and unrelenting pressure on the NHS, we could see this concerning rise in cardiovascular disease death rates continue unless all parties commit to prioritising NHS heart care, better preventing heart disease and stroke, and powering science to unlock future treatments and cures."