Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary Jon Ashworth has said that the party will double dementia spending to tackle one of the biggest health challenges facing the country.

The current government research target is for £1.6 billion to be invested in dementia research by the end of the decade, but Labour says that in the years before the pandemic, funding for dementia research decreased by £7.2 million from £82.9 million in 2018-19 to £75.7 million in 2019-20.

Under the current speed of investment, it would take nearly 20 years for this government to meet their investment goal. Labour is pledging that in government, dementia research would be a crucial part of government science spending, and that annual spending would double to £160 million.

Ashworth said: “Dementia is a leading cause of death, and no one has ever been cured of dementia. One in three people born this year will develop dementia. The economic cost is billions, the human cost unquantifiable. Throughout the history of the NHS, the genius of medical science has developed cures and therapies once thought beyond our horizons. What seem like medical miracles today will be routine tomorrow.

“I want us to raise our sights and glimpse at the possibilities of the future. But in recent years dementia research funding has fallen under the Tories. Instead a Labour government will double funding for dementia research to play our part in finally finding a cure for this cruellest of diseases.”