Ministers were forced to defend the government’s record in tackling health inequalities amid a row over the quality and cost-effectiveness of the National Health Service on Thursday prompted by a damning report from the World Health Organisation.

Among the WHO findings, which drew on examples from around the world, were some disturbing inequalities in life expectancy in the UK, which compared unfavourably with areas of the developing world. In Glasgow, it showed, there was a 28-year gap in average longevity between the richest and poorest areas of the city.