Take grandparents on holiday, minister for loneliness tells families

British families should take grandparents on holiday with them, the Government’s new “minister for loneliness” has suggested.

Mims Davies said Britons could learn from the example of Mediterranean nations, where families involve the older generations more in their daily lives.

And she said communities had a “moral duty” to stop the elderly feeling abandoned, urging employers to give staff more time off to care for parents.

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Ms Davies said: “Very often you will be out on holiday – a few of you in a small British family – and you will find this huge, wonderful plethora of people on the beach.

“And you will think, ‘God, doesn’t that look fun?’

“We are just a little bit blinkered. We have decided that we should box ourselves in a bit.

“I think when we are a little bit more bold about how we do things, we find so much more joy in it.”

She added: “We are in a weird place when we are very willing to drag our children around into our lives and enjoy our lives with them together – but being that sort of extended family is seen as being a bit more difficult.”