The effects of the screening programme for cancer of the uterine cervix in Great Britain are disputed, and the subject has been underexplored. Accordingly, we have related routinely available data on screening effort in Scotland, Wales, and the 14 English Health Regions to various incidence and mortality outcome measures, from 1967 to the present day. Although such an approach is imperfect, the results support the belief that the screening programme has been largely unsuccessful.