The Government’s controversial NHS shake-up could lead to cuts in vital services for black and Asian communities in Bradford, a Labour minister has warned.

Shadow health minister Diane Abbott has warned the proposals would hurt communities in Bradford who could not afford treatment under a system which “opens the door to privatisation”.

She warned Government cuts could impact services regularly used by women and black and minority ethnic communities in Bradford.

The Labour MP was at the University of Bradford yesterday as the keynote speaker for the first in a series of regional roundtable events focusing on black and minority ethnic women’s health.

She told the Telegraph & Argus: “I believe the changes the Tories are proposing will be bad news for communities like Bradford.

“First of all, you’re going to see rising unemployment and that’s always associated with bad health. Then you’re going to see cuts in the health service and then the sort of products which really reached out to communities, including black and Asian communities and women.

“What the Tories are trying to do is open the door to privatisation and it will harm everybody.”

The MP, who stood for the Labour leadership in 2010, added: “Black and minority ethnic communities don’t get the right nutritional advice and some of their traditional foods are not healthy. Poor nutrition leads to obesity and also contributes to cancer. Diabetes in the population as a whole has shot up and among black and minority ethnic communities it shot up higher.

“I think about 20 per cent of our drugs bill is spent on diabetes. It has become an epidemic and we need to stop this, not just because it can lead to high blood pressure and strokes, but it’s costing the NHS millions and millions every year.”

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