Our Policy and Public Affairs Manager Thomas Brayford shares a personal view after attending the Liberal Democrats' Party Conference.
Well, the Liberal Democrats’ conference certainly ended with a bang – with leader Sir Ed Davey belting out Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.
On a serious note, the party now has a real opportunity to make an impact with its new cohort of MPs. I look forward to hearing more specific policy announcements, on health, science and innovation, from them in the coming months.
It was my first, and hopefully not my last, visit to Liberal Democrat conference - and it certainly made an impression on me. In the recent General Election, the party won 72 seats, their highest total ever. In doing so they returned to being the third largest party in the House of Commons for the first time since 2015. Enough reasons to feel upbeat!
Whilst there, I met with colleagues from Pancreatic Cancer UK (Alfie Bailey-Bearfield and Johanna Taylor) and spoke to them about their campaign to improve life expectancy. Pancreatic cancer, like brain tumours, is one of the less survivable cancers (which also includes oesophageal and stomach). We often find ourselves joining forces under the umbrella of Cancer52 and the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, to demand better outcomes for our communities.
I also met with Willie Rennie MSP (above), former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. We discussed the need for more research into brain tumours, in order to understand how they arise in children and adults. Mr Rennie called for allocated money to be used to identify new therapeutic opportunities, particularly in Scotland.
I chatted to new MPs about brain tumours and the work Brain Tumour Research does. Manuela Perteghella, MP for Stratford-on-Avon, was interested to learn more about the statistics on brain tumours. Angus MacDonald, MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, was shocked to hear how brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40. I also spoke to parliamentary researchers and will be contacting them in due course.
Daisy Cooper MP, former Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care and long-time friend of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours, said that the top priority for the Liberal Democrats is to champion local health and care services. She highlighted the current healthcare crisis, including difficulties in accessing GPs, long waits for cancer treatments, and surgeries. Cooper said that major reforms and increased funding for the NHS and social care services were necessary, arguing that these services are essential for individual freedom and a liberal society. Finally, she called on the Labour Party, and specifically the Health Secretary, to adopt bold reforms for the NHS.
In his conference speech, the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, said that his party would support the Government where that was the right thing to do. He was, however, critical of Labour for scrapping hospital building programmes and other capital investments. He encouraged them to focus on long term planning in the NHS.
Davey spoke to the value of the care sector in supporting the NHS and of his own experiences as a carer of his parents, and now of his own son. Davey also chastised the Government for not mentioning care workers in either the King’s Speech or their manifesto.
Sir Ed repeated Daisy Cooper’s remark that: “There’s a reason Wes Streeting calls us his 72 pen pals.”
Let’s hope that the 72 continue to scrutinise the Government’s Health and Science plans and offer support where necessary. And, most importantly, that they speak up for our brain tumour community.
Next up is Labour Party conference. We will bring you an update next week.
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Published Wednesday 18th September 2024.