A new narrative began at the start of the year, pushed by senior government figures including the Prime Minister, linking the populist right, especially Reform UK, to ‘vaccine scepticism’. Starmer’s remarks followed an outbreak of measles at the start of the year, described as a ‘surge’.

It was a striking intervention by Starmer. Public health scares are rarely framed in such overtly partisan terms. And the data does not support the sense of catastrophe that ministers are now promoting.

Start with vaccination rates. The uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine has slipped slightly in recent years, but the long-term trend hardly suggests a system in collapse. National coverage currently stands at around 88.9 per cent according to the UK Health........

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