EVERY new mum in England and her baby aged three to four months will have an extra home health visit under a Labour government, Jon Ashworth will announce today.

The shadow health secretary is making the pledge following expert opinion that this is the stage when mums are at substantial risk of post-natal depression. It is also a critical time in the provision of support to help them continue breastfeeding.

Labour will commit an extra £25 million to fund the visit, financed from Labour’s costed national child health fund, which was announced during the 2017 general election campaign.

At the Breastfeeding: a Public Health Priority conference in London, Mr Ashworth will say: “We are lagging behind most other high-income countries on mortality, breastfeeding and obesity rates.

“David Cameron and Theresa May used to boast of their commitment to increase the number of health visitors.

“Yet we have actually seen health visitors cut by more than 20 per cent in just over two years.”