Former Love Islander Dr Alex George has accused the Labour government of breaking their manifesto commitment to fund youth mental health support hubs – community drop-in centres offering support to struggling young people.
As Youth Mental Health Ambassador under the Conservatives – an unpaid role he held from 2021 to 2024 – Alex, 34, championed the scheme which would have provided free counselling, community spaces and confidential advice to the under-25s.
Speaking to Daily Mail columnist Bryony Gordon, Alex claimed that despite discussing the plans with Prime Minister Keir Starmer before the election and the hubs appearing in Labour’s manifesto, the government has since failed to fund them.
Alex is a practising NHS doctor and reality TV star who became a prominent mental health campaigner after the loss of his younger brother, Llyr, 19, to suicide in July 2020.
He has recently released a book, Am I Normal?, which chronicles his life after his brother’s death – including his journey to sobriety and diagnoses of ADHD and OCD.
Former Love Islander Dr Alex Georgehas accused the Labourgovernment of breaking their manifesto commitment to fund youth mental health support hubs
‘I do not want any further part of politics or government’, Alex told The Life of Bryony podcast.
‘The system does not allow for any sort of change… like, there are good people that go in wanting to do good things, but the system stops them.
‘I sat down with Keir Starmer a few months before the election and we spoke about the youth mental health support hubs. They took the idea and put it in their manifesto. I thought that was brilliant.
‘I did not care if they mentioned me, I just wanted them to do it – to fund the hubs. YoungMinds, the charity I work with, had already done all the leg work.
‘The plan was to fund them – and now that they’re in power, they are not funding them. They have changed the scheme to something it is not – which means it is not doing what it should be doing.’
The proposal was a ‘no-brainer’ in improving access to mental health care, Alex argued, with the hubs being designed to prevent young people needing more serious interventions later down the line.
He said that the £200 million upfront cost would have been paid back in spades, improving lives and saving the NHS ‘hundreds and hundreds of millions’ in a short period of time.
‘My understanding was that it was a promise and that Labour wanted to continue working with me’, Alex added.
‘I did not hear from them for six months and then they said, we don’t want to continue your role.
‘The way I was treated doesn’t matter, I don’t care… but I worked really, really hard and couldn’t get the obvious done.
‘Funding the hubs was the obvious thing to do. It would have saved hundreds and hundreds of millions in very quick time.
‘I know it is weird talking about money in this case but that’s how you have to talk in politics. Don’t bother talking about feelings, it’s a waste of time.
As Youth Mental Health Ambassador under the Conservatives- an unpaid role he held from 2021 to 2024 – Alex, 34, championed the scheme
Alex claimed that despite discussing the plans with Keir Starmer before the election and the hubs appearing in Labour’s manifesto, the government has since failed to fund them
Alex is a practising NHSdoctor and reality TVstar who became a prominent mental health campaigner
‘It would have made a huge difference. Everyone wanted it, we had cross party agreement across lots of MPs. But did it happen? No. Five years down the line and we still haven’t done it.’
Alex said he feels governmental support for mental health has waned since its peak during the pandemic.
Worse still, he accused Health Secretary Wes Streeting of attempting to blame patients rather than address systemic failures, pointing to plans for an inquiry into ‘over-diagnosis’ of conditions like ADHD.
‘They are turning on the people that these problems are affecting’, Alex said.
‘Rather than think, there’s a problem here, let’s solve it. They think, oh, we must be overdiagnosing.
‘We have one of the lowest rates of diagnosis in Europe. There are many people who have ADHD, who are walking around not knowing they have it.
‘Stop saying we’re overdiagnosing because it is not true… put the money into services, make sure people get the help they need.
‘Is it really reasonable to wait five years to be assessed for anything?’
For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details
To listen to the episode in full, where Alex discusses how going sober changed his life after his brother’s suicide, search for The Life of Bryony now, wherever you get your podcasts.
