A minister for loneliness has been appointed to help tackle the misery endured by around nine million Britons.
Theresa May has backed a series of recommendations made by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, which highlighted how widespread the problem is.
Ms Cox, who was brutally murdered by a far-right terrorist, campaigned across the political divide before her death to find ways to combat loneliness.
As well as announcing Tracey Crouch will become the minister responsible for the issue, the Prime Minister said a cross-government strategy to find ways to stop people feeling lonely will be published later this year.
Debbie Thrower from The Gift of Years, a Christian group for older people, told Premier loneliness a massive issue due to many people growing older without their family living close by.
"I think it's such a positive step forward. It has been recorded that being lonely is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day," she said.
"It is very important not only form a psychological, emotional and spiritual point of view, but also just physically to remain connected with people, to remain interested, to have some sort of a social life, even if we are living alone."
The Office for National Statistics will help to devise a method of measuring loneliness and a fund will be set up to allow Government and charities to find innovative ways to deal with the problem across all ages, backgrounds and communities.
Ms Crouch said: "I am sure that with the support of volunteers, campaigners, businesses and my fellow MPs from all sides of the House, we can make significant progress in defeating loneliness."
Listen to Debbie Thrower speaking to Premier's Eno Adeogun here:
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