International Men’s Day

Jeevun Sandher Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Jeevun Sandher (Loughborough) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) not only for securing this debate, but for his incredibly courageous and powerful contribution, which is no doubt making waves across this country—I thank him so, so much for that.

Today men are finding life unaffordable in a way that their fathers did not, which is leading to anger, to despair and even to death. It is on us, and it is within our gift in this Government to ensure that every single man—indeed, every single person—in this country can find life affordable, with decent jobs everywhere. The second part of my PhD focused on the topic of why non-graduate men cannot find decent jobs. While I cannot force hon. Members to read my PhD, I can force them to listen today. Chapter 1—[Laughter.]

Men, particularly non-graduate men, have gone through a huge crisis. In the 1980s, about 10% of non-graduate men were not working; today, the figure is 25%. That is over 2 million men in total, with 1.3 million off long-term sick. That is not through any fault of their own—it is because of the way the economy has changed, both in this country and across high-income nations. Manufacturing has declined; there is no longer a factory in those men’s local town or city. They can no longer leave school, get a good job, get a good home and support a family. That has all ended, and now what we see across this country and across nations like ours is a small number of good jobs in major cities, and not enough elsewhere.

We see young men doing the right thing, getting a good education, and then finding that they can no longer afford a decent life. That leads to anger and despair, but —tragically—more than that, it leads to death. The number of middle-aged men dying from alcohol, suicide and drug overdoses has doubled in this nation over the past 30 years, the result of despair caused by deindustrialisation. The scars of Thatcherism have not left this nation or stayed with one generation alone; they have passed from father to son.

That is the country we are living in today, and stepping into the void caused by that despair, anger and frustration are those on the radical right who say, “The cause of your poverty, your penury and your difficulties is those who look different. If you just attack them with enough vigour—if you are violent enough—your life will be better.” We know where that leads; we saw where it lead a century ago, and sadly we are seeing it across our nation again today. Violence only begets violence. Anger only begets anger. In this moment, it is for us in this country and in this Chamber to realise that and step to it.

We in government have that gift within us. Good jobs will not appear magically across this country; they will not come with economic growth alone. It is for Government to help create them, both directly by building the homes we need, through home insulation and clean energy, and indirectly by working with the private sector through our industrial strategy. Beyond the economics—which are very important—is our political vision, which says that every single person in this country deserves a decent life. More than that, it says that we are stronger when we stand together. It says that when each and every one of us does well, we all do well—that we are stronger together and weaker apart. To those who say that we only need to attack others, we say that that does not live up to the best traditions of this nation, and it does not meet the moment we are in. It is on us to meet that moment.

I am so proud to be in this Chamber with all of you, and so proud of my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase. It is up to all of us in this place to create a country in which every single person—including every single man—can afford to live a decent life.