Vital Signsby Bridgehead

01  Topic  ·  Healthcare

Vital Signs: Cancer

Change topic · 29 health and social care topics

Who is shaping the debate on cancer: in Parliament, in the press, and among the experts the press turns to.

See the 8 search terms behind this page ↓

02  Who is talking  ·  pick a lens

03  The signal  ·  Where it is spoken from

628

of 1,439 MPs & peers have spoken on cancer since 9 July 2024 · 2,084 Commons contributions from 433 constituencies · latest sitting indexed 28 October 2026

0Hansard contributions per seat84

Seats shaded by Hansard contributions on this topic. Lines join the 9 MPs in this list to their constituencies; peers have no seat and no line.

#Most activeSignalScore
  1. 01—Clive JonesSpokespersonLiberal Democrat · Wokingham · Commons · Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Care and Carers)252
  2. 02—Ashley DaltonLabour · West Lancashire · Commons225
  3. 03—Jim ShannonDemocratic Unionist Party · Strangford · Commons222
  4. 04—Dr Caroline JohnsonShadowConservative · Sleaford and North Hykeham · Commons · Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)177
  5. 05—Baroness MerronMinisterLabour · House of Lords · Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)160
  6. 06—Wes StreetingCabinetLabour · Ilford North · Commons · Secretary of State for Defence135
  7. 07—Karin SmythMinisterLabour · Bristol South · Commons · Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)132
  8. 08—Helen MorganSpokespersonLiberal Democrat · North Shropshire · Commons · Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)96
  9. 09▲ 1Dr Scott ArthurLabour · Edinburgh South West · Commons87
  10. 10▼ 1Sir Keir StarmerLabour · Holborn and St Pancras · Commons84

Score is a weighted Hansard contribution score for this topic since 9 July 2024. Portraits: UK Parliament Members API. Rank change (▲/▼) is vs. 7 days ago.

Hansard · weekly mentions

258 mentions in the last 8 sitting weeks, 299 in the 8 before

RecessJul 24Jan 25Jul 25Jan 26Jul 26100 · w/c 3 Feb34 · w/c 19 Oct

Recess weeks are not counted: sitting weeks are compared with sitting weeks, and the current week is left off until it is complete. Parliament was in recess 21 Sept to 11 Oct 2026. 2,863 mentions since 9 July 2024.

Press · articles per week

859 articles in 60 weeks, 190 of them in the last five

Jan 2026Jul80 · w/c 7 Sep

Source: Guardian archive, trade press and news search: a sample of coverage, not an exhaustive count. Weekly article counts to w/c 19 Oct; weeks not yet ingested are dropped rather than shown as zero.

Parliament · party split

Share of scored contributions

  • Labour323 members53%
  • Liberal Democrat84 members18%
  • Conservative134 members17%
  • Democratic Unionist Party7 members4%
  • Others (14 groups)80 members8%

Labour members account for 53% of the scored contributions on this topic, across 18 party groups in both Houses.

Parliament · reach

Members who have spoken

628of 1,439 MPs & peers

44% of the roster has spoken on this topic since 9 July 2024: one square per member, 433 MPs (navy) and 195 peers (cobalt).

Briefing · Parliament

MPs press ministers on cancer waits, radiotherapy and access to drugs as the national cancer plan is defended

  1. In the Commons Health Bill debates on 8 September, Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat) and Grahame Morris (Labour) backed new clauses 113 and 114 on radiotherapy metrics and a 62-day treatment right. Farron said only 29% of cancer patients in Lancashire and south Cumbria get radiotherapy, while Morris said radiotherapy is "not an ordinary local service". Health Minister Karin Smyth replied by pointing to the national cancer plan and diagnostic capacity.
  2. In the 14 October debate on underperforming NHS trusts, Lola McEvoy (Labour) set out a review at County Durham and Darlington trust in which 321 of 538 women's cases showed some form of harm. Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat) gave Mid and South Essex's cancer diagnosis figures, and James Wild (Conservative) said only 65% of cancer patients at his local trust are treated within 62 days against an 85% standard.
  3. Ministers defended the national cancer plan in several settings. Leader of the House Sir Alan Campbell cited £2.3 billion for 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 on 10 September, and Yvette Cooper announced £2.8 million for focal therapy for prostate cancer on 20 October. Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat) asked for a debate on NHS workforce shortfalls and for support for his Cancer (Reporting and Strategy) Bill, and Andy Burnham said he would ask a new independent national cancer board to look at the proposal.
  4. Brain cancer came up repeatedly. Carla Lockhart (DUP) asked the Health Secretary on 20 October to expand clinical trials across the UK, and Lee Barron (Labour) asked the Prime Minister on 2 September to prioritise it. Cooper and Burnham both said they had met campaigner Archie Goodburn to discuss new action on brain cancer.
  5. On VAT and compassionate access schemes, Danny Beales (Labour) described a patient with bile duct cancer in the 7 September debate, and Jim Shannon (DUP) called for a permanent VAT exemption. On 21 October, Michelle Scrogham (Labour) told the Prime Minister that Bayer had withdrawn regorafenib from its scheme after the VAT announcement, leaving her constituent with no further options.

Verbatim

  • We have brought in our national cancer plan, with £2.3 billion invested to deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029.

    Sir Alan Campbell · Labour, Tynemouth · Business of the House · 10 Sept 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • Of the 538 women whose cases have been reviewed, 321 experienced some form of harm: 77 suffered significant harm, 20 underwent unnecessary mastectomies, and the trust has confirmed that one woman has died, and it is currently investigating the situation.

    Lola McEvoy · Labour, Darlington · Underperforming NHS Trusts: Government Oversight · 14 Oct 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • In south Cumbria, only 29% of cancer patients get radiotherapy. That is the lowest proportion in the country, and only 27% of them get that treatment within the 62-day target.

    Tim Farron · Liberal Democrat, Westmorland and Lonsdale · Radiotherapy Satellite Units · 20 Oct 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • Ian does not have the luxury of time, so will the Prime Minister urgently commit to ensuring a solution to the VAT issue, to provide Bayer with certainty to rejoin the scheme, and will he meet my constituent to see the real-life impact of these life and death decisions?

    Michelle Scrogham · Labour, Barrow and Furness · Engagements · 21 Oct 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • Access to clinical trials is negligible, with only 2% of brain tumour patients successfully accessing them.

    Carla Lockhart · Democratic Unionist Party, Upper Bann · Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment · 20 Oct 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

AI-drafted from 152 Hansard contributions over 22 sitting days · 1 September 2026 to 22 October 2026 · No sittings were recorded between 18 September 2026 and 11 October 2026. · quotes are exact copies of the Hansard record, speakers taken from the record · generated 24 Oct 2026 · how briefings are made

Expert voices · press citations

The most quoted voices on this topic

40 of 526 expert voices, 133 citations across 4 groups. Click a group to open it as a lens on the map.

Clinicians

8 · 28 citationsOpen lens ↑

Academics

24 · 70 citationsOpen lens ↑

Sector leaders

7 · 33 citationsOpen lens ↑

Regulators & officials

1 · 2 citationsOpen lens ↑
  • Helen KnightNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)2

Methodology

How Vital Signs ranks

Parliament. Every Hansard contribution on a topic since 9 July 2024 is scored by type and summed per member; the map colours each constituency by how often its MP has raised the topic. Peers sit in no constituency and are ranked but not mapped.

Press. Bylines rank journalists and quotations rank expert voices, across the Guardian archive and trade press Vital Signs has read. A voice’s pin marks its organisation’s base, never the person’s home.

Briefings. Drafted by an AI model from the underlying Hansard text or articles. Every quotation in a Parliament briefing is an exact copy of the Hansard record and linked to it; press quotations are as the linked articles reported them. The speaker is always taken from the record, not the model.

Search terms for Cancer. These are the exact terms used to find what appears on this page.

Parliament: 8 terms

A Hansard contribution counts toward this topic when it contains any of these, matched as whole words.

  • cancer
  • cancer treatment
  • cancer screening
  • cancer waiting times
  • oncology
  • chemotherapy
  • radiotherapy
  • cancer diagnosis

News search: 4 terms, run each week

Each term is searched separately on Google News. Where a term only extends an earlier one (“cancer treatment” after “cancer”), it is skipped.

  • cancer
  • oncology
  • chemotherapy
  • radiotherapy

Guardian: 1 editor tag

The Guardian archive is read by its editors’ tags, not by keyword, so an article only counts if a Guardian editor filed it under one of these.

  • society/cancer

Trade press: 1 outlet

Read by each outlet’s own category for this topic, not by keyword.

  • Pulse Today
Read the full methodology →Check your MP’s record →

Profiles

More on cancer

Voices in the press

Journalists

Beyond Parliament

In care homes

A consultant-led care framework for cancer, for UK care homes.

Headland Care Consulting condition framework for cancerHeadland is a separate venture, founded by Dr Sheel Mehta and William Walter, Bridgehead’s Managing Director. Vital Signs does not rate or endorse it.