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What did party conference season mean for cancer?

by Ian Caleb | Opinion

4 October 2024

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Our policy and public affairs team speak to Wes Streeting at the Labour party conference
Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, enjoyed meeting our policy and public affairs team at the Labour Party conference

Ian Caleb, public affairs manager, reports back from this year’s Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences with the latest on what they meant for cancer. He also shares some updates on how the team is making sure politicians pay attention to Cancer Research UK’s key campaigning messages.

Party conference season in the most quiet of years is still a whirlwind of exhibition halls, big speeches, obscure fringe events and politician spotting. This year was bound to feel important, however, as it marked the first year of an upheaval in British politics with Labour now in Government, the Liberal Democrats enjoying their largest MP tally ever and the Conservatives starting their next chapter with a leadership contest. 

With all that in the background, Cancer Research UK’s public affairs team unpacked our placards, fanned out our flyers and set out our stand in Brighton, Liverpool and Birmingham to talk to the three biggest UK parties about what this new parliament could mean for cancer.  

Our head of policy, Shaun Walsh, with Victoria Atkins at the Conservative party conference.
Our head of policy, Shaun Walsh, with Victoria Atkins, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Our campaign for a turning point for cancer was listened to by the parties before the election, and since then we have seen several key commitments coming to fruition. The important thing now is making sure that, regardless of government or opposition, everyone works together in this Parliament so people can live longer, better lives. 

With more than half of MPs changing, it was also a big chance to talk to new parliamentarians about the expertise, research and resources we provide to help them support good legislation and have confidence in critiquing policies that need improvement. Thanks to our supporters and ambassadors asking their representatives to come and say hi, we met with a record 140 MPs, metro mayors and peers across the three conferences.

So, what did conference season mean for cancer? 

With the Labour Government holding a commanding majority, their early commitments on cancer are important if the country is to fulfil the ambition, as set out in our manifesto, to prevent 20,000 cancer deaths a year by 2040.  

We were pleased to hear Health Secretary Wes Streeting acknowledge the difficulties cancer patients face today and stress that all cancer patients deserve world class care. We were also happy to hear reports that the Government may be considering a dedicated cancer strategy, one of the key calls in our manifesto.

Our policy and public affairs team speak to Peter Kyle
Our policy and public affairs team speak to Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

It was also pleasing to see the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, acknowledge the importance of life sciences in the Government’s mission for growth. We look forward to working with the Government to integrate the important perspective and funding charities bring to medical research in this country. 

Finally, as for the Conservative conference, we’re watching the leadership contest with interest (and accidentally becoming a part of the coverage). Whoever wins, we’ll be looking to meet them and their cabinet team to discuss how they can use their position as the opposition party to help make this Parliament a turning point for cancer.

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It's time for a turning point for cancer

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