Rare Cancers Bill
Debate between Luke Evans and Nusrat Ghani(2 days, 10 hours ago)
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Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
I rise to speak on behalf of His Majesty’s official Opposition in support of the Rare Cancers Bill, and to welcome its thoughtful and necessary intervention on behalf of a group of patients who have been under-researched, under-represented, and under-acknowledged for too long. I commend the hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) on bringing this Bill forward, and on his ongoing dedication to the issue.
The case for the Bill is clear: rare cancers—defined, in line with the UK rare diseases framework, as conditions affecting fewer than one in 2,000 people—are individually uncommon but collectively account for more than 20% of all cancer diagnoses. However, as we know, patients with rare cancers routinely face delayed diagnosis, limited treatment options and far fewer opportunities to participate in clinical research.
The Bill does not claim to be a silver bullet, but it does mark a significant step forward in how we think about and legislate for research, regulation and data access in rare cancer care. It is focused, proportionate and strategically aligned with the existing NHS and National Institute for Health and Care Research frameworks.
Clause 1 places a duty on the Secretary of State to carry out a review of the law relating to marketing authorisations for orphan medicinal products that are for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of cancer. It also rightly requires that the review includes comparisons with regulatory approaches in other countries. This is vital. The explanatory notes rightly observe that research into rare cancers is often commercially unattractive because of small patient populations and high developmental costs. If our regulatory environment creates further barriers to entry, patients suffer—not because the science does not exist but because the system does not support it.
The UK’s current approach to orphan designation lacks the pre-authorisation incentives found in systems such as the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration. The review required under the Bill is the opportunity to ask whether we are doing enough to attract the research and development that rare cancer patients deserve.
Points of Order
Debate between Luke Evans and Nusrat Ghani
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I thank the right hon. Member for his point of order. There will be no further points of order on that issue.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I seek the assistance of the Speaker’s Office. On Friday 29 November, I received an email from the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command regarding the honeytrap situation that hit Westminster. Unfortunately, in that email several other victims were named. It was then leaked to journalists and released from that point onwards. I have received a phone call and an email from the Met to apologise, but I would be grateful if Mr Speaker raised this significant issue with the Met to ensure that lessons are learned and that it does not happen again.
Madam Deputy Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving us notice of his point of order. As he knows, we do not discuss security matters in the Chamber, but I share his concern, and I can assure him that Mr Speaker will raise the matter with the appropriate people.
Winter Fuel Payment
Debate between Luke Evans and Nusrat Ghani(10 months ago)
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Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
Maybe in two minutes, this debate can best be summed up with a lesser-known fable: the farmer and the viper. A farmer was walking through his field. It was very cold in the winter, and he found a viper just under the bushes. The viper was cold, limp, and almost dead. The farmer knew it was poisonous, but he felt compassion for the creature, picked it up and put it in his pocket. As the creature became warm, it reverted to type and bit him and, as he died in that field, he said, “I got what I deserved. I shouldn’t have shown kindness to a scoundrel.”
That rings true, because after 14 years of the Labour party being out in the cold, the pensioners of this country backed Labour into government, under an impression created by the Prime Minister. Only in May 2024, he goaded our Government, asking
“Will the Prime Minister now rule out taking pensioners’ winter fuel payments off them?”—[Official Report, 1 May 2024; Vol. 749, c. 255.]
If we scratch the surface a little bit deeper, though, we find that, on 25 March 2014, the now Chancellor said that
“We are the party who have said that we will cut the winter fuel allowance for the richest pensioners and means-test that benefit to save money”—[Official Report, 25 March 2014; Vol. 578, c. 174-175.]
so this is not a response to a concocted black hole. This was a choice—as Laura Kuenssberg pointed out, it was a choice to pay the unions on the back of our pensioners.
The public are not stupid. The cartoonist Matt sums it up perfectly when he says, “Surprisingly, Robin Hood, nobody likes your plan to steal from pensioners to give to train drivers.” I was in the Chamber last week when the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero said that Conservative Members should
“show a bit of bravery—even break the Whip and stand out from the crowd.”—[Official Report, 5 September 2024; Vol. 753, c. 461.]
I am disappointed that Labour Members did not take that advice, with only one Labour MP doing so.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call another doctor, Dr Kieran Mullan.