I know what it’s like to have anxiety, Mr Sunak – it’s anything but the ‘ordinary difficulties of life’

I used to work for Mental Health First Aid – I’ve even organised training for No 10, writes Rosie Slater. That’s how I know we should distrust the government’s sick note war on vulnerable people claiming disability benefits

More than 10 million of us were signed off work last year due to illness – depression or anxiety was a factor in half of those cases (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

In a week where the nation has been gripped by the welfare of a couple of runaway cavalry horses, it’s a shame the government hasn’t been so considerate in its response to the UK’s mental health crisis.

More than 10 million of us were signed off work last year due to illness, and as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed in his speech on “sick note culture” last week, depression or anxiety was a factor in half of those cases.

Given the effects of the pandemic and a cost of living crisis, it feels unsurprising to me that there’s been a rise in the number of people suffering with a mental illness.