Clive Jones, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham, has condemned the leader of the house of commons’ response to his request for a debate on tackling variations in cancer care across the nation.
During business questions on January 8, Clive Jones began his speech by raising awareness of the suffering caused to cancer patients because of variations in cancer care.
This is particularly an issue for patients needing to access key clinical nurse specialists due to staff in many regions being stretched beyond their capacity.
According to a survey conducted by Breast Cancer Now, a breast cancer research and support charity, over a quarter of respondents have not seen a clinical nurse specialist since their diagnosis.
The Wokingham MP concluded by asking for a debate in government time on how to tackle variation in cancer care across the nation, particularly focusing on increasing access to clinical nurse specialists.
Sir Alan Campbell MP, leader of the House of Commons, began his response by recognising the importance of the issue.
However, the leader of the house concluded by saying: “But we have also got to support the means, and that means voting when it comes to budgets to ensure that the money is there that we are putting in. Liberals cannot have it both ways.”
The Liberal Democrats have put forward tax changes to fund changes to the nation’s healthcare system, but the government continues not to listen.
These include doubling the rate of Remote Gaming Duty paid by online gambling companies, reforming capital gains tax so that the top 0.1% of people pay the same rates of income tax as everyone else, raising the Digital Services Tax for social media firms and global tech giants, and a time-limited windfall tax on the “unexpected” interest payments (above 2% interest rate) received by big banks as an unintended consequence of the Quantitative Easing (QE) programme.
Following the session, Clive Jones, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham, said: “I am deeply disappointed in Sir Alan Campbell’s poor response to my request for this important debate, one that directly addresses the difficulties faced by cancer patients nationwide.
“After years of Conservative neglect, I agree that our health services are in desperate need of repair; repair that would be partially funded by the Liberal Democrats’ tax changes that we have repeatedly proposed to the Government.
“The Liberal Democrats have been recommending these tax changes for the entirety of the current Parliament, but the Government refuses to listen and claims that there are no recommendations being put forward.
“The Government must listen to the Liberal Democrats’ proposed tax changes and my call for this essential debate – cancer patients and their families deserve better.”
