Which MPs and peers raise long covid most in Parliament?

Ashley Dalton, Tessa Munt, Jo Platt lead the ranking of MPs and peers on long covid, based on every Hansard contribution since 9 July 2024.

How is the long covid ranking calculated?

Vital Signs ranks MPs and members of the House of Lords by a weighted score of their Hansard contributions on Long Covid — speeches, written questions and committee work — over the course of this Parliament (since 9 July 2024). Ministerial statements and debate speeches carry more weight than written answers; every contribution counts at full weight however early in the Parliament it was made. Contributions are matched to this topic on whole-word keyword matching, so "send" is never mistaken for SEND and "career" is never mistaken for care. Ministers and shadow ministers are labelled, because answering on a brief is their job rather than a choice to raise it; their scores are shown as-is, not adjusted.

Vital Signsby Bridgehead

Hansard to 28 October 2026 · 30,907 contributions indexed · 1,439 MPs & peers

01 Topic · Healthcare

Vital Signs: Long Covid

Change topic · 29 health and social care topics

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

See the 7 search terms behind this page ↓

02 Who is talking · pick a lens

03 The signal · Where it is spoken from

of 1,439 MPs & peers have spoken on long covid since 9 July 2024 · 65 Commons contributions from 42 constituencies · latest sitting indexed 28 October 2026

0Hansard contributions per seat8

Seats shaded by Hansard contributions on this topic. Lines join the 7 MPs in this list to their constituencies; peers have no seat and no line.

#Most activeSignalScore

01—Ashley DaltonLabour · West Lancashire · Commons24
02—Tessa MuntLiberal Democrat · Wells and Mendip Hills · Commons21
03—Jo PlattLabour (Co-op) · Leigh and Atherton · Commons15
04—Baroness Bennett of Manor CastleGreen Party · House of Lords8
05—Baroness BrintonSpokespersonLiberal Democrat · House of Lords · Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Home Affairs) (Victims and Abuse)8
06—Baroness MerronMinisterLabour · House of Lords · Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)6
07—Tom HayesLabour · Bournemouth East · Commons6
08—Sir Jeremy HuntConservative · Godalming and Ash · Commons6
09—Lloyd HattonLabour · South Dorset · Commons6
10—Dr Scott ArthurLabour · Edinburgh South West · Commons6

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

3 mentions in the last 8 sitting weeks, 4 in the 8 before

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. 91 mentions since 9 July 2024.

Press · articles per week

461 articles in 60 weeks, 159 of them in the last five

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

Labour25 members51%
Liberal Democrat15 members30%
Conservative9 members12%
Green Party1 members3%
Others (3 groups)4 members4%

Labour members account for 51% of the scored contributions on this topic, across 7 party groups in both Houses.

Parliament · reach

Members who have spoken

54of 1,439 MPs & peers

4% of the roster has spoken on this topic since 9 July 2024: one square per member, 42 MPs (navy) and 12 peers (cobalt).

Briefing · Parliament

MPs and peers welcome the ME/CFS delivery plan but question whether it delivers for people with long Covid

In the Commons debate on myalgic encephalomyelitis (19 November 2025), Jo Platt said half of those with long Covid meet the criteria for ME and called the delivery plan a welcome step that is not enough. Dr Luke Evans praised the plan but pointed to a lack of delivery, citing Action for ME's concern about accountability, and Helen Maguire said it fell short on funding for early career researchers.
In the same debate, Tessa Munt cited the German Government's €500 million research commitment over a decade and asked the Minister whether the annual economic impact of ME is likely to be at least £7 billion. Sir Jeremy Hunt said the DecodeME study is the real cause for hope and that funding is now key. Health Minister Ashley Dalton said the plan is "simply the foundations" and described the e-learning programme, DecodeME findings and £845,000 for the PRIME infrastructure project.
In the Lords debate on severe ME (18 June 2026), Baroness Scott of Needham Market welcomed the delivery plan but said recognition is not delivery, noting that work to explore a specialist NHS service for severe ME will not begin until at least April 2027. Baroness Walmsley welcomed a £1.4 million NICE research programme covering ME and long Covid, while warning against confusing the two conditions. Baroness Merron accepted that the system "has not worked as it should".
In the Health Bill committee (7 July 2026), Helen Morgan cited a survey of more than 5,000 people with ME or long covid in which more than half said an NHS official had disbelieved them, and backed an amendment to put guidance for professionals into legislation. Dr Caroline Johnson questioned the amendment, fearing it could slow future improvements, and asked about progress on training and the public awareness initiative. Morgan said she did not intend to press it to a vote.
Elsewhere, long Covid arose through the Covid inquiry: Jo Platt asked at Topical Questions (23 April 2026) for assurance that the Government will act on its findings, and Nick Thomas-Symonds said the Government will consider the module 3 report in its full response. Charlie Maynard raised a constituent firefighter retired with long covid over a disputed compensation pension (20 November 2025).

Verbatim

The Government's ME delivery plan is a welcome step. NHS e-learning service specifications and small research grants are progress, but they are not enough, particularly for severe ME.
Jo Platt · Labour (Co-op), Leigh and Atherton · Myalgic Encephalomyelitis · 19 Nov 2025
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
I recognise that some stakeholders feel that the plan does not go far enough, but let me be clear: this is not the end of the journey; this is simply the foundations.
Ashley Dalton · Labour, West Lancashire · Myalgic Encephalomyelitis · 19 Nov 2025
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
However, that recognition, welcome though it is, is not delivery. In March this year the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that work to explore a specialist NHS service for people with severe ME will not begin until at least April 2027. That is not delivery of the service; it is simply the exploration of one.
Baroness Scott of Needham Market · Liberal Democrat, House of Lords · Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis · 18 Jun 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
Results from a big survey of more than 5,000 people with ME or long covid in late 2025 painted a bleak picture: more than half said that they had been disbelieved by an NHS healthcare official, one in three had been made to feel that their ME was their own fault, and almost two in five had had an encounter with a clinician that was traumatic or traumatising.
Helen Morgan · Liberal Democrat, North Shropshire · Health Bill (Twelfth sitting) · 7 Jul 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
If individuals have to legally follow that guidance, how can they innovate and improve treatment without having to come back to Parliament for more primary legislation?
Dr Caroline Johnson · Conservative, Sleaford and North Hykeham · Health Bill (Twelfth sitting) · 7 Jul 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

AI-drafted from 32 Hansard contributions over 143 sitting days · 13 November 2025 to 15 September 2026 · No sittings were recorded between 24 July 2026 and 31 August 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 201 expert voices, 84 citations across 4 groups. Click a group to open it as a lens on the map.

Clinicians

4 · 7 citationsOpen lens ↑

Dr Rae Duncanconsultant cardiologist and internationally renowned long Covid researcher4
Prof Channa JayasenaImperial College London / Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust1
Dr Melissa Heightmanrespiratory physician at University College London's Hospital COVID clinic1
Dr. Amitava BanerjeeProfessor in clinical data science at UCL and honorary consultant cardiologist at University College London Hospitals and Barts Health NHS Trusts1

Academics

31 · 62 citationsOpen lens ↑

Professor Dmitry PshezhetskiyLead researcher at UEA's Norwich Medical School6
Professor Katherine WoolfUCL Medical School4
Dr Charles ShepherdHonorary Medical Adviser to the ME Association3
Marie-Claire SeeleyRN, MNurs, PhD3
Michael PelusoLong COVID researcher at the University of California, San Francisco3
Dr Keir PhilipClinical Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London2
Jeffrey MeyerSenior study author2
Ofer LevyBoston Children's Hospital / Harvard Medical School2
Akiko IwasakiYale University School of Medicine2
Chris PontingDecodeME investigator, University of Edinburgh2
Dr Enya DaynesResearcher2
Dr Kathryn McKinnonBMA occupational medicine committee chair2
Jeroen den DunnenCenter for Infection and Molecular Medicine, Amsterdam UMC2
Joann Diray ArceBoston Children's Hospital / Harvard Medical School2
Maira InderyasLead author and PhD candidate2
Manolis KogevinasStudy coauthor, ISGlobal Barcelona Institute for Global Health, PhD2
Natalie A.E. YoungReport author, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics2
Niels EijkelkampCenter for Translational Immunology, UMC Utrecht2
Pia Lindberglead author, Karolinska Institutet2
Prof Danny AltmannDepartment of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial2
Rob Wüstmovement scientist at the VU2
Timothy Henrichphysician-scientist formerly at Brigham and Women's Hospital and now at the University of California, San Francisco2
Christa Brownregistered dietitian with a Master of Science in Nutrition Education and a certification in gut health by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition1
Dr Rachael EvansClinical Associate Professor at the University of Leicester1
Luca Vignatellilead author1
Prof Stephen Griffinvirologist from the University of Leeds1
Professor Daniel Altmannprofessor of immunology at Imperial College London1
Professor Ian MaidmentProfessor in clinical pharmacy at Aston University1
Ziyad Al-Alyprofessor of medicine at Washington University in St Louis in the US1
Alexandre AkoulitchevChief Scientific Officer at Oxford BioDynamics1
Alina Dima, MD, PhDspecialist in internal medicine and rheumatology at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Colentina Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania1

Sector leaders

3 · 10 citationsOpen lens ↑

Dr. Ewan Hunterchief data officer at Oxford BioDynamics4
Professor Habib NaqviNHS Race and Health Observatory3
Dr Margaret O'HaraTrustee of Long Covid Support3

Unions

2 · 5 citationsOpen lens ↑

Prof Nicola RangerRoyal College of Nursing3
Dr Tom DolphinBritish Medical Association (BMA)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 Long Covid. These are the exact terms used to find what appears on this page.

Parliament: 7 terms

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

long covid
post-covid syndrome
long-haul covid
ME/CFS
chronic fatigue syndrome
post-viral
long covid clinic

News search: 6 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.

long covid
post-covid syndrome
long-haul covid
ME/CFS
chronic fatigue syndrome
post-viral

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/long-covid

Read the full methodology →Check your MP’s record →

Profiles