Tory NHS and social care cuts are “economic murder” and could cause 100 unnecessary deaths a day without emergency funds, warns a report today.

Already 120,000 Brits have died needlessly since 2010, claim researchers at three top universities.

The joint study, by Oxford, Cambridge and University College London, is the first of its kind to link cuts in government health and social care spending to higher mortality rates in England. MPs and campaign groups described the findings as “shocking”.

Cambridge University’s Professor Lawrence King, who contributed to the study, said: “ Austerity does not promote growth or reduce deficits – it is bad economics. It is also a public health disaster. It is not an exaggeration to call it economic murder.”

The squeeze on public spending and the drop in nurses since 2010 has put over-60s and care home residents most at risk, says the study

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Published in the British Medical Journal’s BMJ Open, it found that between 2001 and 2010 the number of nurses rose on average 1.61% a year.

From 2010 to 2014, with the Tories in power, the rise was just 0.07% – 20 times lower than the previous decade.

Spending on social care fell 1.9% every year over the same period. The study found the number of deaths in England fell by an average of 0.77% every year between 2001 and 2010, but rose by an average of 0.87% every year between 2011 and 2014.

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Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said: “This shocking mortality gap is a damning indictment of the dire impact which sustained Tory cuts to our NHS and social care services have had on health outcomes across the nation.”

Researchers said it would take an extra £6.3billion every year to plug England’s “mortality gap”.

UCL’s Dr Ben Maruthappu, said: “More must be done, with better modernisation of services, and protection of health and social care funding.” The authors said the study indicated lower spend on health and social care is “associated with a substantial mortality gap”.

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Royal College of Nursing chief Janet Davies said: “All parts of the NHS and social care system do not have enough nurses and vulnerable and older individuals pay the highest price.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “This study cannot be used to draw any firm conclusions about the cause of excess deaths.”