A failed flu vaccine is thought to be responsible for a sharp rise in winter deaths in West Yorkshire.

There were 1,490 excess winter deaths in the county during the winter of 2014/15, according to government figures.

This was a shocking 86% increase on the previous year.

And while winter deaths in 2015/16 declined on the previous year, it was still an increase of almost 40% than the number recorded in 2013/14, according to provisional data.

Excess winter deaths are defined as the difference between the number of deaths in the winter months (December to March) compared with the previous (August to November) and following (April to July) three months.

The total number of excess winter deaths across the UK as a whole during 2014/15 was 43,850, the highest level seen in over 15 years.

The sharp increase has been largely attributed to the failure of the flu vaccine which experts say was only effective in one in three cases.

A key contributing factor in these deaths is the high number of people in the UK still living in cold homes within rural parts of the country.

Malcolm Farrow from OFTEC, the oil heating trade body, said: “The shocking increase in the number of excess winter deaths seen over the past two years shows there is still much more that needs to be done.”