Jeremy Corbyn will claim that the Conservative Government is running the UK down in "every way" as he launches Labour's local election campaign today (4 March).

The left-wing leader, speaking in Newark, Nottinghamshire, will highlight "falling life expectancy" for British pensioners and those aged 45.

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"How can you not be angry and demand major change when life expectancy in Britain for pensioners and those aged 45 is falling? We are a rich country, the sixth richest in the world. We are not at war, there is no epidemic sweeping our land," Corbyn will say.

"So how on earth can life expectancy be falling? The truth is that the Tories are running our country down."

He will add: "Homeownership, opportunities for our children, wages and conditions at work, the NHS, care for our elderly, and now, life expectancy: they're all going backwards, run down by a Conservative Government that looks after those at the top and manages decline for the rest of us."

But the Conservatives, using Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, hit back. The party pointed out that life expectancy at age 65 years increased between 1991 to 1993 and 2012 to 2014.

"Labour can't even get their basic facts right –there's no way they would run your council or our country properly. They are out of touch, divided and would leave ordinary working people worse off with their incompetence," said Tory chairman Patrick McLoughlin.

"Across councils and in government it is the Conservative Party that is standing up for ordinary working people – building a stronger, fairer country that our children and grandchildren are proud to call home."

The comments come a month before the local and metro-mayoral elections on 4 May. The latest national opinion poll from ICM, of more than 2,000 people between 31 March and 2 April, put the Conservatives on 43% and Labour on 25%.

Jeremy Corbyn