Children from disadvantaged backgrounds suffer up to four times worse health than those from less deprived families

Britain is in danger of “failing a generation” as it lags behind other European countries on child health, leading doctors have warned.

A report says that death rates for babies under one, levels of obesity and vaccination in the UK are comparatively poor or stalling in their progress.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) warns that Britain is falling below other high-income countries on many key indicators of child health as more than 4 million children in the UK now live in poverty.

Its annual State of Child Health study found that the health of children from disadvantaged backgrounds was up to four times worse than that of less deprived families. Child health has been “seriously affected” by deep cuts to local