The primacy of politics: the rise and fall of evidence-based public health policy?

This editorial reflects on the apparent rise and the potential fall of the use of evidence in English public health policy. Over the last 20 years, there has been increasing reference to evidence within policy circles both nationally and locally. However, in 2013, a series of national decisions about plain packaging, alcohol pricing and the NHS Health Checks scheme, as well as the move of public health into local authorities, have acted as reminders of the long-standing cultural differences between researchers and policy-makers and the primacy of political priorities. This editorial reflects on these issues and concludes by discussing the future prospects of evidence-based public health policy and the normative relationship between evidence and politics in a democratic system.