Families criticise PM as she fails to back suicide prevention minister

Families who've lost loved ones to suicide in Tyne and Wear say they're "extremely frustrated" that the Prime Minister has failed to back calls for a suicide prevention minister.

It's the key demand of a petition that's attracted more than 300,000 signatures - it was also called for by the Project 84 campaign which attracted attention earlier this year, when sculptures were put on a central London building to highlight the 84 men that take their own lives every week.

Speaking during a visit to the North East yesterday, Theresa May said:

"1 in 4 people are affected by mental health issues and that's why we're putting record amounts of money into mental health; it's why we're doing initiatives like making sure every member of staff in schools is trained to get children affected by this the support they need.

"We have actually been working on a strategy in relation to suicide, to try and see a reduction in the number of suicides that take place.

"Part of that is what government can do and part of it is what can happen, for example, in the workplace."

The petition was started by Matthew Smith from County Durham after his brother Daniel took his own life.

"It's just frustrating because I am one of the individuals that has been directly affected by the impact of suicide and it's great being told that it's a priority, but too many people are suffering in silence, too many families are losing someone close to them over something that is so preventable."

Suicide claims the lives of more than 6,000 British men and women every year and is the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. Every single suicide directly affects 135 people and beyond the emotional cost, every single suicide costs an estimated £1.67 million – a cost to families, friends and wider society.

The PM was speaking as she brought her Cabinet to the North East for an away day at the Sage Gateshead.

As she took questions from workers at an engineering firm in Newcastle, the PM was asked how confident she was she could sell the blueprint to other European leaders.

"What I see is people focusing their minds now on the impact the future relationship will have on their economies as well as ours," she said.

"We've had some constructive responses so far. I won't say that you won't hear some negative things being said but so far, constructive responses."