Rare Cancers Bill

Lord Blencathra Excerpts

Friday 16th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Blencathra (Con)]

My Lords, it is a bit frightening for me, as a layman, to follow the noble Lord, Lord Kakkar, one of Britain’s top professors of surgery. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Elliott of Whitburn Bay, on introducing this small but important Bill. I support it since I have had a couple of run-ins with cancer in the past—but, so far, I am outrunning it.

I had my first cancer at the age of 32, just two years after being elected to the House of Commons. That was a bit scary, but the excellent doctors at the then Westminster Hospital, just round the corner, fixed that. My Yorkshire Whip visited me and said, in that proper style I admire in Whips, “Eh, lad, you’d better not die on us—we can’t afford another by-election”. However, I am particularly grateful to the brilliant men and women of the Royal Marsden, who chopped out some nasty bits a six years ago. It was not a rare cancer, and in fact it was quite common, but it kills 18,000 people per annum in the UK.

Before looking at the Bill properly I had assumed that there would be a dozen or so rare cancers, but I am shocked to discover there are more than 230 different ones, affecting all ages and every part of the body. Diagnosis of rare cancers can be very difficult, leading to delays, and a lot of research information is often limited to common cancers.

In the time available, I will concentrate on Clause 2. Science is moving at breathtaking speed, and one of the fastest innovative cancer centres in the world is the Royal Marsden Hospital in Fulham. The Marsden and its partner, the Institute of Cancer Research, are translating precision diagnostics, early phase drug development, immunotherapeutics, advanced cellular and gene therapies and AI-driven imaging and data science into patient care—techniques that redefine what “radical” treatment for rare cancer means today.

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with the Institute of Cancer Research, is widely recognised as a leading expert, one of the top specialist cancer centres in the UK, and in the top four worldwide, for the diagnosis, treatment and research of rare cancers. When we get to Committee, I would like to amend Clause 2 to say that we do not want to appoint a person to be known as,

“the National Specialty Lead for Rare Cancers”,

since I do not think there is a single person capable of undertaking that task. However, the Royal Marsden’s record makes it uniquely qualified to lead this national effort.

It is astonishing what breakthroughs the Royal Marsden is making. There are active programmes at its National Institute for Health and Care Research centre—the Marsden has the only one in the country and has been nominated for it—which translates discoveries from the test bench to bedside care, right across eight translational themes.

The Royal Marsden is noted as Europe’s largest cancer centre, whose expertise is enhanced by more than 2,500 cancer specialists who collaborate in weekly multidisciplinary team meetings to develop personalised treatment plans. It was the first hospital in the UK to use the amazing Da Vinci robot with four arms that have microsurgical tools at the end that can get to the small cancer bits that surgeons’ big hands cannot. If your Lordships want to see something amazing, Google search “Da Vinci robot” and look at the demo. A grape is cut in half, and this robot stitches it together again without tearing the skin. That is why, when they gave me a choice, I said, “I’ll have the robot operating on me, please”, and it did it quite successfully. The Marsden’s Sarcoma Unit is one of the largest in Europe and a world leader in sarcoma research and treatment; as noble Lords present who are surgeons will say, that is one of the many rare cancers the Marsden specialises in.

In closing, the Bill’s measures—especially the careful review of orphan medicinal product authorisations in Clause 1—will protect the incentives that turn radical science into real cures. Putting it simply, if we want the Bill to work, appointing the Royal Marsden as the specialty lead will give the UK the leadership, infrastructure and reach required to make the aims of the Bill a reality.