MPs can thank their voters for better chance of living a long life

THEY complain of long hours, high stress, the burden of responsibility and lower pay than many of them believe they deserve.

But it seems that something about life in Parliament must be good for the constitution, after a scientific paper established that MPs have significantly better chances of long life than the people they serve. Research published in the British

Medical Journal (BMJ) shows that death rates for MPs over the last 70 years have been 28 per cent lower than in general, taking account of age and gender differences. Life in the Lords is even better, with peers’ expected mor- tality rates 37 per cent below an equivalent sample of the population – and MPs elevated to the Upper Chamber also see their mortality rate fall.

Dr Tim Crayford, chief medical advisor to the financial products firm Just Retirement, and John Dennis, of University of Exeter Medical School, compared mortality data for almost 5,000 members of the two Houses from 1945 to 2011 with the general population. They calculated that for every 100 deaths generally, there would be 72 among MPs – whose mortality rates have also fallen faster than average.

The paper concludes MPs have “never had it so good”. Tories fared better than Labour members over the timespan but the researchers said this was largely explained by previous socio- economic backgrounds, adding that the party difference has now vanished.

The report added: “Even among MPs – a narrow stratum of UK society – we found education to be an important predictor of mortality.

“Social inequalities are alive and well in UK parliamentarians, and at least in terms of mortality, MPs are likely to have never had it so good.” Voters tempted to aim for political office to boost their chances of longer life might not want to aim too high: another study in the BMJ found evidence that becoming a prime minister or president shortens life span.

US researchers studied 279 elected leaders in 17 countries from 1722 to 2015 and found they lived nearly three years less than those they beat in elections.