Vital Signs: Cancer

Briefing · Parliament

MPs and peers debate cancer waiting times, radiotherapy access and funding for lobular breast cancer research

1. 01The Health Bill's Report Stage generated the most sustained cancer-specific argument. Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat, Westmorland and Lonsdale) and Grahame Morris (Labour, Easington) pressed new clauses that would have created a legal right to begin cancer treatment within 62 days of referral and established a national radiotherapy framework, with Morris noting that only 35% of UK cancer patients received radiotherapy as part of primary treatment. Minister Karin Smyth (Labour, Bristol South) declined to accept the new clauses, pointing to the national cancer plan and the national cancer board as the Government's preferred accountability mechanism.
2. 02The Lobular Breast Cancer Moon Shot Project debate in Westminster Hall on 9 July saw cross-party calls for the Government to ringfence £20 million over five years for research into invasive lobular breast cancer, with John Milne (Liberal Democrat, Horsham) and others paying tribute to campaigner Dr Susan Michaelis on the first anniversary of her death. Minister Stephen Kinnock (Labour, Aberafan Maesteg) refused to commit to ringfencing, saying competitive peer-reviewed applications were the standard process, though he acknowledged he would follow up on the status of live research bids.
3. 03At the final Commons sitting before recess, on 11 September, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill prompted Members with direct cancer experience to speak. Ashley Dalton (Labour, West Lancashire), who disclosed a stage 4 metastatic breast cancer diagnosis, said she had considered that dying quickly might be easier on her family. Dr Zubir Ahmed (Labour, Glasgow South West), a practising cancer surgeon, argued as a sceptic that the six-month prognosis threshold would take an 'unhealthy salience in every clinical conversation', while Dr Peter Prinsley (Labour, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) and Andrew Lewin (Labour, Welwyn Hatfield) argued that some cancer deaths were so distressing that the Bill was necessary.
4. 04Access to cancer treatment for people in rural and coastal areas came up repeatedly. Richard Quigley (Labour, Isle of Wight West) described residents abandoning treatment because of travel costs across the Solent. Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat, North Cornwall) detailed constituents making six-hour round trips by bus for chemotherapy, and Dan Aldridge (Labour, Weston-super-Mare) noted his town had no radiotherapy machine despite its size, while Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat, Harrogate and Knaresborough) highlighted that clinical research funding in Yorkshire was about a quarter of what London received.
5. 05The debate on diethylstilbestrol on 29 June, led by Jessica Toale (Labour, Bournemouth West), raised concerns that routine cervical smear tests do not reliably detect the rare cancer associated with DES exposure, leaving affected women unprotected. Minister Preet Kaur Gill (Labour, Birmingham Edgbaston) confirmed the Department had commissioned the University of Exeter to conduct a systematic evidence review, and that the national clinical director for cancer had written to all cancer alliance leaders in December 2025 to raise awareness among clinicians.