Category: Speeches

  • Kanishka Narayan – 2026 Speech on AI

    Kanishka Narayan – 2026 Speech on AI

    The speech made by Kanishka Narayan, the Minister for AI and Online Safety, at the Founders Forum on 10 February 2026.

    Thank you, Carolyn, the Tech Nation, London AI Founders and Merantix teams. 

    When I said I wanted to share our AI vision and delivery news with our founders… 

    …I knew I wanted to do it at the heart of Britain’s AI community. 

     Within a year, you have created that here, at the London AI Hub. Thank you for doing so and thank you for opening its doors tonight. 

    Historical heritage

    175 years ago, London’s makers similarly opened up their doors. 

    During the Great Exhibition of 1851, the world came to London and saw the first wave of mass-produced consumer goods. 

    Most of it was what textile designer and social activist William Morris called ”shoddy”— cheap, poorly made, and “ugly”.  

    Critics of these goods argued it was designed by machines to mimic hand-made luxury, except without the soul. 

    But Morris didn’t reject the machine. Along with the Arts and Crafts movement, he demanded that the machine be the servant of the craftsman. 

    They built the Kelmscott Press, treating the “technology” of printing as a way to create the most beautiful books in history.  

    They challenged the decline in printing… 

    …ushered in a new aesthetic… 

    …exerted greater agency… 

    …and inspired the Private Press movement. 

    This fork of 1851 is perhaps one of the most significant moments in the history of design. 

    It put to humans a central question:  

    Does the machine exist to serve what is beautiful about the world, or to replace it with dull mimicry detached from our humanity?  

    For Morris, that question of aesthetic was grounded in the question of agency:  

    Is technology wielded by humans, or is the beauty of our life injured by our 

    service to machines? 

    175 years on, I believe we face Morris’ question again.  

    Indeed, I believe it to be the central question today for both our startups and our politics. 

    Faced with Grok stripping human dignity… 

    …do we wield agency, or does technology? 

    With model releases now separated by months, , how do British startups build with agency, to real needs that persist? With model releases now separated by months, how do British startups build with agency, to real needs that persist?  

    In fear of AI’s jobs impact, can we enhance human labour or are we bystanders in its erosion? 

    My primary purpose tonight is to tell you a simple vision:  

    This government will wield agency over technology to serve the power of our labour… 

    …the need of our economy… 

    …the joy of our aesthetic…  

    … and the depth of our British values. 

    The context for founders

    Today, British tech’s challenge is this: before we can steer the wheel, we need to get to the front of the bus. We need greater British technology ownership before we can demand deeper British technology influence. 

    In my maiden speech , I talked about the shock that no working-age person in this country had seen a start-up go to the FTSE top ten. In the US, 8 out of 10 had. 

    The last decade and a half failed to exercise British agency. 

    In the most fruitful period for technology businesses, Britain did not get a seat on the bus. 

    Part of that is because previous governments made us into burdened Britons… 

    …carrying greater risk in our frozen wages…  

    …our flat pensions…  

    …our eroded public services…  

    …not the buccaneering Britons we had been and must be again.  

    Already, we have begun to break glass on our frozen heritage of curious adventure. 

    Our changes to Enterprise Management Incentives now make Britain pretty much the best tax system in the world to chase curiosity as a startup tech employee…. 

    …Our pension reforms, our ramp up in BBB scaleup capital deployment, mean British buccaneering will finally get the rocket booster of British bucks…. 

    …Our changes to research funding – a focus on curiosity-driven research, backed with funding to commercialise – mean returning to our heritage of moonshot invention and industrial application together.  

    And to fire up our imagination for adventure, we have some of our best tech leaders banging the drum for startups… 

    …whether that be Tom Blomfield as our AI Ambassador for British startups and scale ups, talent and investment or Katie Gallagher, our AI Sector Champion for Digital and Tech. 

    Above all, we have put fiscal credibility and financial responsibility back at the heart of government. 

    I came into politics after a career advising FTSE firms and investing in our startups, because I believed in a clear economic mission: Keir Starmer’s commitment to restoring stability and trust in the public finances.  

    Because markets punish uncertainty without hesitation. 

    We saw that in the chaos of the Truss era – capital pulled back, confidence evaporated, a risk premium priced into everything. 

    Many have since forgotten that this is not some abstract Treasury concern: it is the basis of a young families’ mortgage…  

    …of local councils’ finances in managing potholes… 

    …parks, our public spaces… 

    …the basis of dignity for millions of borrowers in this country… 

    …and of growth and prosperity, across this country.  

    It is the stability that marked 2025 as the year financial credibility returned, the year the UK startup economy roared back to life. 

    Investment is flowing again.  

    Founders are building with confidence.  

    The pipeline from idea to scale is wide open once more. 

    Last year, UK startups and scale-ups raised around $24 billion in venture capital, nearly 35 per cent up on the year before, one of the strongest performances on record.  

    UK AI startups alone raised almost $8 billion, roughly a third of all venture capital invested into British tech. 

    And the UK is once again Europe’s startup engine, producing more unicorns than France and Germany combined. 

    Celebrating success

    But let me be candid.  

    Our lost opportunity was not just down to those who didn’t take risk… 

    …it was down to us failing to value those who did.  

    Somewhere in our history, we let ourselves be captured by that most vicious guard of conservative privilege: the tall poppy syndrome. 

    We forgot that the root of the tall poppy tale, thousands of years old, wasn’t some egalitarian impulse; it was, in fact, the most egregiously privileged advice of King Tarquin Superbus to his son: that the path to elite control for kings ran through the total destruction of common merit and talent. 

    We can course correct from that fork of fake British mythology.So when people say to me today: we don’t celebrate those who have taken risk and succeeded. I say back: we have agency on this question, so why don’t we start today? 

    Now is the time to recognise the innovators that are shaping the future, right here in the UK.  

    The entrepreneurial spirit of Arm’s pioneering founders created a world-leading semiconductor firm that is spear-heading the development of transformative new technologies, including AI.  

    This would not have been possible without each of those twelve individuals… 

    …Jamie Urquhart, Mike Muller, Tudor Brown, Lee Smith, John Biggs, Harry Oldham, Dave Howard, Pete Harrod, Harry Meekings, Al Thomas, Andy Merritt, and David Seal.  

    It’s time that we recognise their contribution to innovation, and the contribution of founders across the UK’s technology stack.  

    Cleo’s Barney Hussey-Yeo is driving financial services transformation.  

    Quantinuum’s Ilyas Khan is accelerating quantum computing to unlock the technology’s full potential. 

    ElevenLabs’s Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski are stretching the boundaries of voice generation to supercharge translation, transcription and agentic capabilities. 

    The risks that these founders took are driving growth and prosperity in the UK.  

    I want to continue recognising these achievements, and so each year I will showcase the innovative founders who are transforming the UK for the better.  

    And as I do so, I’m committed to ensuring we celebrate the full breadth of that talent.  

    The UK remains the largest hub for female-founded innovation in Europe, as recognised by the 2025 Female Innovation Index… 

    …Yet we know that our technology ecosystem still skews heavily male.  

    The Secretary of State and I are determined to change that… 

    …That is why we launched the Women in Tech Taskforce in December- to address the barriers that prevent women from starting tech businesses, entering the sector, or progressing once they’re in.  If women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men, our economy could see a £250 billion boost. 

    So we will champion the game-changing work that is being done by the women who are blazing the way in tech leadership. 

    Women like Starling Bank’s Anne Boden, PensionBee’s Romi Savova, and Resi’s Alex Depledge, who is also serving this country as an Entrepreneurship Advisor to the UK’s first female Chancellor. 

    This is the talent that will cement the UK as a global tech leader. 

    And we should be aiming this high. My ambition, within the next 5 years, is to name a trillion-dollar founder from our shores. 

    Some may say that setting out this target in such terms is its own risk… 

    …to them I say that government is embracing the mentality that has been so successful for our ambitious founders.  

    Opportunity dispersed

    Yet, even when we have fixed our relationship with risk, we have a choice to make. 

    We could have fixed it for elites. 

    We could have spared tall poppies Tarquin’s cull. 

    That was the pattern of the SaaS and smartphone revolutions, the trend of frontier tech in the last 2 decades: let elites build, let the rest benefit.  

    That cannot be the trend of the next 2 decades.  

    AI’s opportunity is too spread to encourage that narrow vision: it’s not just concentrated code, but diffuse physics, that will determine AI’s impact.  

    Crucially, Britain’s strength is a separate trend: British tech has done best when we have spread opportunity. 

    There is a reason that our largest UK-listed tech company started in 1981 when a local printing firm owner asked a university student to automate his quotes and accounting.  

    The automation worked so well, they decided to quit printing and start selling. Plotting their startup at the Rose and Crown pub, they saw a herb poster on the wall: having ditched calling their company Parsley Systems, Rosemary Systems and Basil Systems, they landed on the startup’s name: Sage Systems. 

    Over 4 decades on, that green herb is Britain’s pride, our largest UK-listed tech company, still headquartered in Newcastle.  

    The Sage effect in Newcastle…  

    …the ARM effect in Cambridge…  

    …the Admiral Group effect in South Wales… 

    …the Deepmind effect in King’s Cross… 

    …the Skyscanner effect in Scotland…  

    …the THG effect in Manchester.  

    Each of these is the effect of remarkable founding teams, and each is in turn the cause of huge lifts in opportunity in their places. 

    That is why we have announced not just ~£28 billion in AI Growth Zone infrastructure in my first 4 months in this role, but we have announced it in deep areas of strength: 

    …5,000 jobs in the North East… 

    …over 8,000 jobs in North and South Wales… 

    …over 3,000 jobs in Lanarkshire.  

    In this tech revolution, Britain is proving that opportunity spread is opportunity scaled. 

    It is why we are announcing £27 million for TechLocal, spreading skills training and better job placements in tech right across our country… 

    …It is why I whizzed around every nation, 6 cities in just over 24 hours, to see our Regional Tech Boosters building startup communities like this one in each nation of the United Kingdom… 

    …It is why this government has thrown open the doors of opportunity.  

    Harold Wilson did it with the Open University; with that Wilsonian sense of scale, our programme to support AI skills is now targeting 10 million workers – almost a third of our workforce – skilled in AI by 2030. 

    British agency 

    In all this, we have to remember that the opportunity of tech is not just in who builds, but in what we build. 

    That is especially so because Britain has a history of building things that expand agency, extending what we can each do. 

    When Britain set joint stock ownership, we extended the agency of entrepreneurs scaling risk by widening the scope of who could share in that risk; 

    When a Briton submitted the first proposal for a World Wide Web, we extended the agency of people sharing knowledge on an open internet. 

    When Britain led with open data, and with data platforms such as UK Biobank, we extended the agency of citizen engagement and frontier research alike. 

    When tech was starting to become opaque, the reserve of a few, it was Britain that put capability back into people’s hands.  

    Raspberry Pi, born in Cambridge and manufactured in Wales, was designed to be cheap, hackable and understandable. It restored agency — to students, hobbyists, engineers and schools alike.  

    In doing so it made a fully programmable general-purpose computer that gives a student in Nairobi, São Paulo or Manchester the chance to learn on the same platform, with the same tools.  

    In keeping with that British tradition, of tech that extends human agency, I will reaffirm today what we have felt deeply in government: Britain will be the home of global open source AI talent. 

    We have fellowships, with Alan Turing Institute and Meta, to back open source talent in government. We have tools – including via the UK AI Security Institute (AISI) – that build open source infrastructure. 

     The UK, through AISI , has developed the world’s most widely used government-backed evaluation tools. Inspect, InspectSandbox, InspectCyber, and our latest release, ControlArena, are now being used by governments, companies, and academics around the world.  

    These open tools lower the barrier to high‑quality evaluation and make safety science accessible at scale. 

    AI Infrastructure

    If we do this – restore agency in taking risk, in succeeding, in building across our country– we will have done a huge service. 

    We will have also done it by restoring another sort of agency: the agency of the state, our collective vehicle for progress. 

    Perhaps, to some of you, the words agency and state don’t obviously go together. 

    But the reality is that the history of the British state is not one of passivity – those are just the Conservative aberrations, the Reform allegations – the history of the British state is one of agency. 

    Alongside the agency of our modern health service, the foundation for our life sciences sector, we have a proud history of Harold Wilson’s technological agency. In Callaghan’s government, another undersold story of state agency.  

    For it was “a Labour government that backed the creation of Inmos in 1978 with £50 million to establish a UK semiconductor industry. 

    Housed in Bristol and Newport, Inmos went on to make a moonshot product – the revolutionary Transputer, designed for parallel computing decades before multi-core processors became industry standard. 

    Inmos didn’t ultimately survive, sold too early by Thatcher.  

    But the original Inmos facility in Wales then became the seed for Wales’ world-leading compound semiconductor cluster, offering a lifeline to a community amidst declining steel jobs, now offering us the chance at global leadership in that critical industry. 

    When I visited the cluster, I saw an exceptional set of apprenticeships for young women, breaking every stereotype of what British tech could be.  

    Where the last decade of SaaS meant SWE jobs in SWE cities only, that hardware cluster flipped the conventional chains that tie class to earnings, restoring craft, pride in human labour, good pay for a good factory job in a high-tech sector. 

    Workers at Inmos didn’t just seed Wales’ semis cluster.  

    A handful left to join another fledgling British startup.  

    In 1981, British startup Acorn Computers won the hardware contract for BBC Micro, the BBC’s computer literacy programme.  

    Within years, Acorn joined forces to spin out a small, asset-light chip design startup in a turkey barn in Cambridgeshire.  

    Shortening the Acorn RISC Machine, they called the company ARM.  

    Today, the legacy of Inmos, with the boost of the BBC’s procurement, is the world’s premier chip design IP firm, valued at over $100 billion. 

    We are picking up where Labour’s semiconductor legacy left us, and we are spreading it across each part of our startup economy. 

    I am, therefore, delighted to announce today Fractile, is confirming £100 million of new investment in its UK headquarters over the next 3 years, underlining its commitment to building advanced AI hardware capability in Britain.  

    The investment will expand its London and Bristol sites, create a new UK industrial hardware engineering facility, and grow its UK-based team to develop and optimise next-generation system.  

    A British AI inference chip startup, rooted in Inmos and ARM’s legacy, now relentlessly chasing the future. 

    Conclusion

    When you all similarly chase the future, you will find in Britain a government in the service of startup Britain. 

    I mean that in practice, not just in slogan.  

    And because Andy Grove was right – what matters is high output management, not loud  politics. 

    You will have a government that will measure its output in public, with a new AI Opportunities Action Plan dashboard… 

    …A government acting as an investment amplifier, driving tens of billions of investments in tech ventures. Establishing a standalone Sovereign AI unit that will operate at market pace, equipped with £500 million, investing into high-potential British AI start-ups… 

    …A government acting to secure British national security with our National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF)… 

     …And a government here to celebrate your remarkable achievements: ~$24 billion raised in venture in 2025, the best tech ecosystem outside of California… 

    …A government making sure you have the compute to turn AI ideas into economic opportunity.  

    In just the time I have been in post, we have secured over £68 billon in AI infrastructure and research investment; underpinned by significant planning and energy reforms. We are putting over £1 billon of public compute, the AI Research Resource (AIRR), in the service of British startups and research… 

    …When you have built with capital and compute, you will have a government willing to be a first-class customer, putting enterprise sales cycles to shame. With novel chips, we will do so with a £100 million Advance Market Commitment… 

    …In our recent planning and education AI procurements, a government willing to accelerate procurement processes… 

    …A government that knows community – the collective force of our talent – is the biggest determinant of our success. With a dedicated AI stream for global talent, reimbursing visa fees and accelerating visa process, alongside a domestic obsession with support for British kids training in AI… 

    …And, finally, a government that knows the central question for us is one of culture: a culture of relentless agency, shared opportunity and extended human ability, so we meet Morris’ challenge and put machines in service, once again, of British agency.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2026 Statement on Sentencing of Jimmy Lai

    Yvette Cooper – 2026 Statement on Sentencing of Jimmy Lai

    The statement made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, on 9 February 2026.

    British National Jimmy Lai was today sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong for exercising his right to freedom of expression, following a politically motivated prosecution. Beijing’s National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong to silence China’s critics.

    For the 78-year-old, this is tantamount to a life sentence. I remain deeply concerned for Mr Lai’s health, and I again call on the Hong Kong authorities to end his appalling ordeal and release him on humanitarian grounds, so that he may be reunited with his family.

    The Prime Minister raised Mr Lai’s case directly with President Xi during his visit. That has opened up discussion of our most acute concerns directly with the Chinese government, at the highest levels. Following today’s sentencing we will rapidly engage further on Mr Lai’s case.

    We stand with the people of Hong Kong, and will always honour the historical commitments made under the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration. China must do the same.

  • Steve Reed – 2026 Statement of Support for Keir Starmer

    Steve Reed – 2026 Statement of Support for Keir Starmer

    The statement made by Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 9 February 2026.

    Keir led our party to victory and won a mandate for change. Waiting lists are falling, wages are rising, new rights for renters and leaseholders. We need to stay the course and deliver the change this country voted for.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2026 Statement of Support for Keir Starmer

    Yvette Cooper – 2026 Statement of Support for Keir Starmer

    The statement made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, on 9 February 2026.

    Later this week, Keir Starmer will lead our delegation to the Munich Security Conference. At this crucial time for the world, we need his leadership not just at home but on the global stage, and we need to keep our focus where it matters, on keeping our country safe.

  • David Lammy – 2026 Statement of Support for Keir Starmer

    David Lammy – 2026 Statement of Support for Keir Starmer

    The statement made by David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, on 9 February 2026.

    Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour’s manifesto that we all stood on. We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the Prime Minister in doing that.

  • Keir Starmer – 2026 Comments on Morgan McSweeney

    Keir Starmer – 2026 Comments on Morgan McSweeney

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 9 February 2026.

    I’ve known Morgan for eight years as a colleague and as a friend. We have run up and down every political football pitch that is across the country. We’ve been in every battle that we needed to be in together. Fighting that battle.

    We changed the Labour party together. We won a general election together. And none of that would have been possible without Morgan McSweeney.

    His dedication, his commitment and his loyalty to our party and our country was second to none. And I want to thank him for his service.

  • Helen Maguire – 2026 Speech on the National Cancer Plan

    Helen Maguire – 2026 Speech on the National Cancer Plan

    The speech made by Helen Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for Epsom and Ewell, in the House of Commons on 5 February 2026.

    I thank the Minister for advance sight of the statement and for her personal experience that has gone into this plan. After the Conservatives failed to invest in our NHS, it is no surprise that cancer survival in the UK is still around 10 to 15 years behind leading countries, with worse survival rates for some cancers than Romania and Poland. I am therefore pleased that this Government listened to my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) and brought this national cancer plan to life, because cancer touches everyone.

    One of my residents, a mum with a young family, discovered a lump in her breast. Despite attending the one stop breast clinic on four separate occasions, it took two horrendous years for her to be diagnosed with breast cancer. When she was finally diagnosed, the cancer was aggressive and required a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. That is why I welcome the Government’s target on meeting all cancer wait time standards by 2029, but the aim to halve the backlog in three years’ time is not ambitious enough. Will the Minister go further and back a Liberal Democrat plan to write into law a guarantee for all cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days from urgent referral?

    The focus on ending delays in cancer care is a step forward, but funding 28 new radiotherapy machines is not enough when the treatment is so cost effective and successful. We need to end radiotherapy deserts, so will the Minister extend her ambition to 200 extra radiotherapy machines?

    The Minister says that the plan will turn the NHS app into a gateway for cancer care, but how will she support older people and the digitally excluded? The plan promises to drive up productivity, end the postcode lottery, expand NHS diagnostic capacity, introduce personalised cancer plans and more. That is optimistic and will require more investment to increase NHS capacity, but without clear funding and capacity building plans, is it realistic?

    Labour was right to put patients at the heart of this plan and incorporate the Liberal Democrat’s calls for a specialist cancer nurse for every patient. We costed for 3,000 extra cancer nurses; how many additional cancer nurses does the Minister believe are needed?

    Finally, will the Minister confirm that the plan’s annual summary of progress will be reported in the House for Members to scrutinise?

    Ashley Dalton

    We listen to a lot of people on the need for a cancer plan. I want to take this opportunity to say that our friend Nathaniel Dye, who sadly died last week from stage 4 bowel cancer, challenged my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to bring forward a cancer plan when we were in opposition. The Secretary of State made that commitment, and we have brought forward the plan 18 months after coming into government.

    The hon. Lady mentions the NHS app, which we understand is not necessarily relevant for people who are digitally excluded. One reason we are bringing that forward is to open up capacity within the rest of the system, so that those who can use digital tools can do so. That will free up capacity for the one-to-one, face-to-face support that many people need, but every cancer patient will get support under this plan, whether that is through the app or through their named lead clinical specialist in their neighbourhood, who will support them throughout the process, including after treatment. We are working with NHS England to identify the appropriate number of people for the cancer workforce, and we will be able to announce more about that as the workforce plan develops.

  • Clive Betts – 2026 Speech on the National Cancer Plan

    Clive Betts – 2026 Speech on the National Cancer Plan

    The speech made by Clive Betts, the Labour MP for Sheffield South East, in the House of Commons on 5 February 2026.

    I really welcome this plan, and the efforts of my hon. Friend the Minister and right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in putting it together. I will just raise one credit and one request to go a bit further.

    First, when I had my cancer treatment eight years ago, I thought I knew my way around the NHS, but it is a completely confusing organisation for anyone involved in it. One thing that really helped me was having a specialist nurse appointed at the beginning. That specialist nurse got my chemotherapy ready on a Monday before I came down to London, and then on a Thursday when I came back. That sort of organisation and help is vital, so I really welcome that proposal.

    Secondly, when I had my stem cell transplant for myeloma, my own stem cells were harvested and used, but many young people with complicated blood disorders need stem cells to be donated. So will the Minister work with the Anthony Nolan trust—I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group on stem cell transplantation and advanced cellular therapies—to ensure that more young people donate their stem cells so that other young people can have a life to look forward to?

    Ashley Dalton

    I thank my hon. Friend for his question, for his expertise and for all that he has shared from his experience to help us develop this plan. I note how important specialist nurses are, but we are also doing more to help people navigate the NHS. I know exactly what it is like; I think I have in my Filofax—I am that retro!—about 38 email addresses and phone numbers of the various people I have to contact in order to project manage my treatment. We are going further and ensuring that the NHS app can handle all that information. Cancer patients will have the ability in their hands, or in their pockets, to manage scans, appointments and test results directly through the NHS app.

    I am delighted to say that my hon. Friend the Minister for Technology, Innovation and Life Sciences is already looking at the issues that my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) raises around blood products and donations, and is working with the Anthony Nolan trust on those. I will be more than happy to work with my hon. Friend further on those issues.

  • Stuart Andrew – 2026 Speech on the National Cancer Plan

    Stuart Andrew – 2026 Speech on the National Cancer Plan

    The speech made by Stuart Andrew, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 5 February 2026.

    I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. May I say right at the outset that we share the ambition to improve cancer survival and outcomes? Almost every family in Britain has been touched by cancer, and patients deserve timely diagnosis, treatment and proper support. I also recognise the Minister’s personal experience and the commitment that she has clearly brought to this agenda. We on the Opposition Benches wish her every success for the future. I also join her in thanking all those who have taken part in the shaping of this plan. It makes a big difference when we hear the voices of patients and families who have been through these experiences.

    The national cancer plan sets out major commitments, including on early diagnosis, improving performance against cancer waiting time standards, the faster set-up of clinical trials, and the national roll-out of targeted lung screening. It also talks about modernising services through technology and innovation. Cancer Research UK has said there is “much to welcome” in the plan, but it is right for it to say that delivery, funding and accountability will determine whether patients see change. Too often, plans sound impressive on paper but fall short when it comes to clear published delivery milestones and accountability. In many respects, this plan mirrors the ambitions of the 10-year NHS plan: it is strong on aspiration, but light on the detail of how change will actually be delivered on the ground. My first question is Toggle showing location ofColumn 455simple: when will the Government publish clear, funded milestones showing how and when patients will see improvements in the next year or two?

    We welcome investment in diagnostics, technology and innovation. It is also right to recognise that this plan builds on the significant expansion of diagnostic capacity delivered by the last Conservative Government, including the roll-out of more than 160 community diagnostic centres. Earlier diagnosis on this scale is only possible because of that foundation, but technology is only meaningful if it translates into real capacity and quicker treatment for patients. That is why radiotherapy matters. Radiotherapy UK is right that it is a core part of modern cancer care, but it relies on up-to-date equipment and a skilled workforce. My second question is this: will Ministers set out how the plan will expand radiotherapy capacity in practice, including equipment replacement and the workforce, so that patients can benefit in reality, rather than the plan just being something written on paper? Are we learning the lessons from the Danish example? They invested in radiotherapy and saw significant improvements over a period of years.

    That point brings me on to the workforce. The success of this plan depends on cancer nurses, radiographers, pathologists and oncologists who are already under immense pressure. We have heard big promises before, but less clarity on delivery, so my third question is this: where is the fully funded long-term workforce plan to deliver the staffing needed to expand diagnostic and treatment capacity and to make sustained improvements, including in neighbourhood health centres? Will the Government explain clearly who will staff them and how they will be funded? Blood Cancer UK has highlighted the importance of ensuring that blood cancers are properly recognised in planning and that patients receive consistent support from the point of diagnosis, including access to a named healthcare professional. That underlines why delivery and accountability across the system matter so much to patients.

    I also welcome the commitments in this plan to children and young people. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage), who I know did some incredible work in this area. Having worked in children and young people’s hospices, I will never forget the journey that those children and their families go on, and I am really grateful to the Government for having a big section on that in the plan.

    My fourth question is about life after—and at the end of—treatment. The plan rightly talks about improving quality of life and support after treatment, including personalised support and rehabilitation; we all want people to live longer, but for many patients and their families, hospice and palliative care are essential. Yet hospices across the country are under severe pressure, with many now in crisis, exacerbated by recent Government tax rises hitting staffing and running costs. Hospices are also notably absent from today’s statement. Will the Government urgently convene a crisis meeting with the hospice sector and set out what immediate steps they will take to stabilise services and expedite delivery of the palliative care plan?

    We will support any serious, deliverable reforms that improve earlier diagnosis, speed up treatment, strengthen the workforce and improve patient experience. But we will also hold Ministers to account on turning Toggle showing location ofColumn 456long term ambitions into real improvements now, because we want to see patients getting the care that they need.

    Ashley Dalton

    I thank the right hon. Member for his statement and questions, and particularly for his personal wishes.

    Overseeing delivery is absolutely crucial. It is great that we have written a plan, but what matters is delivering it. We started delivery even before we had finished writing this plan; we are not waiting. We have already put £200 million directly into cancer via cancer alliances. We have recruited 2,500 more GPs. We have already put in place 28 cutting edge radiotherapy machines and are rolling out lung cancer screening. We have opened more community diagnostic centres at evenings and weekends. We said we would deliver 2 million more appointments; we have already delivered 5 million more appointments. And we have put £25 million into the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s brain tumour research consortium.

    Steps are already being taken, but it is really important, as the right hon. Member points out, that we are held to account and that people keep our feet to the fire on delivery. That is why we are setting up a brand new cancer board of charities and clinicians, which will oversee the delivery of this plan and keep our feet to the fire.

    On workforce, we know how important it is to make sure that the cancer workforce is grown and developed, not only in terms of numbers but in having the resources and the support to use their skills to the utmost. The workforce plan that the Government are developing will also include cancer and will be published this spring.

    I was delighted to hear the right hon. Member mention rare cancers and children and young people. This is the first ever cancer plan with a chapter on rare cancers, and the first ever cancer plan with a chapter on children and young people, and I am really proud of that.

    On radiotherapy, as I said, we have invested £70 million into 28 new linear accelerator—LINAC—radiotherapy machines. We have also listened to stakeholders in the radiotherapy community. We are investing in new technology, including those radiotherapy machines, and in AI to assist the oncology workforce to reduce the time it takes to plan and then deliver treatment. By April next year, we will streamline the process to make it easier for radiotherapy centres to use cutting edge stereotactic ablative radiotherapy—SABR—which is crucial to many patients. We will also ensure that the payment system associated with this treatment incentivises rapid adoption.

    The right hon. Member mentioned hospices, something that I know is very close to his heart and his experience. We are delivering the biggest investment in hospices in a generation. We have provided £100 million to upgrade buildings, facilities and digital systems, and we are giving a further £26 million to children’s and young people’s hospices, ensuring that they can continue offering specialist, compassionate support. More broadly, we are developing a palliative care and end of life modern service framework for England. That is currently being developed alongside our stakeholders, with a planned publication date of autumn 2026.

    I hope that addresses most of the issues raised by the right hon. Member, but I am more than happy to speak with him further after the debate.

  • Ashley Dalton – 2026 Statement on the National Cancer Plan

    Ashley Dalton – 2026 Statement on the National Cancer Plan

    The statement made by Ashley Dalton, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 5 February 2026.

    With permission, I will make a statement on the Government’s national cancer plan for England.

    A cancer diagnosis changes you forever. When I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer 18 months ago, I did not know whether I would be alive today, never mind standing at this Dispatch Box announcing a national cancer plan, but one year ago almost to the day, the Prime Minister asked me to do just that. Since the Government took office, over 212,000 more people are getting a cancer diagnosis on time, over 36,000 more are starting treatment on time, and rates of early diagnosis are hitting record highs. Despite those vital signs of recovery, though, the NHS is still failing far too many cancer patients and their families. That is why first and foremost, this plan is a break with the failure of the past 15 years.

    In 2011, the coalition Government published “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”. That strategy was followed in 2016 by “Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England”. In 2019, the long-term health plan for England made cancer a priority and included a headline ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stages 1 and 2. However well-intentioned they were, not one of those strategies has lived up to its promises. Cancer mortality rates in the UK are much higher than in other, comparable countries, while survival rates are much lower. Cancer incidence is around 15% higher than when the 62 day standard was last met, and working-class communities are being failed most of all. The most deprived areas, including rural and coastal communities, often have fewer cancer consultants, leaving patients waiting longer. This all adds up to the chilling fact that someone living in Blackpool is almost twice as likely to die young from cancer than someone living in Harrow. Wherever in our country a person lives, they deserve the same shot at survival and quality of life as everyone else. Wealth should not dictate their health, and neither should their postcode.

    Behind these statistics are real people. I have heard from those whose care lacked empathy and dignity, from those whose cancer was missed or whose test results were lost, from those who were passed from pillar to post and kept in the dark about their condition, and from those whose loved ones died before their turn came for surgery because the wait was too long. Those experiences are unacceptable—they are devastating. From day one, I was determined to put their voices front and centre of our plan. Over the past year, we have listened to and learned from cancer charities, clinicians and, most importantly, patients and their families. Every action is a response to someone’s lived experience. Every commitment is a promise to transform someone else’s life. Their stories have become the blueprint to make the biggest improvement in cancer outcomes in a generation.

    Three major themes stood out from the 11,000 responses to our call for evidence, some 9,000 of which came from patients and their carers: core performance standards, improved survival, and quality of life after diagnosis. Those are not radical ideas, but unlike previous strategies, this plan is not limited to incremental improvement. Instead, it is an ambitious, bold plan to save 320,000 more lives by 2035, which will be the fastest rate of improvement this century. We will do that by modernising the NHS, harnessing the power of science and technology, putting our patients at the front of the queue for the latest medicines, and helping them to live well after diagnosis, not least for people diagnosed with stage 4, metastatic and incurable cancers—people like me.

    How do we get there? We are placing big bets on genomics, data and artificial intelligence, as set out in our 10-year plan for health. We will hardwire the three shifts of our 10-year plan into cancer pathways. First, on moving from analogue to digital, we heard from patients about the importance of clinical trials, so we will make the UK one of the best places in the world to run a trial with a new cancer trials accelerator. We will start people’s care earlier using liquid biopsy tests, which can return results up to two weeks faster than conventional testing. We will harness AI to read scans, plan radiotherapy and identify the right path for each patient. We will harness genomics so that every eligible patient has access to precision medicines. We will harness data to make sure that all metastatic disease is counted properly—starting with breast cancer—so that people with incurable cancer are properly recognised and supported. When people are not counted, they feel like they do not count, but we will end that.

    Innovation will also help us fight inequalities and make the shift from sickness to prevention. We will turn the NHS app into a gateway for cancer care. By 2028, it will host a dashboard for cancer prevention, with access to tests and self-referral. By 2035, it will bring together genomic and lifestyle data with the single patient record to advise every patient according to their risk. That will benefit people in rural and coastal communities who can find it difficult to access specialist care simply due to geography.

    Finally, we will use the neighbourhood health service to make the shift from hospital to community. That will mean more care, from prehabilitation to recovery support, delivered closer to home. We will help people live well with cancer through tailored support closer to home. People will be given personal cancer plans, named neighbourhood care leads and clear end-of-treatment summaries so that no one feels abandoned after their treatment.

    For too long, those with rarer cancers have seen little to no progress for many of their conditions. They told us we need a special focus on these cancers, and our plan sets out how they will benefit from the deployment of genomics, early detection and the development of new treatments. That was asked for by patients and will be delivered by this Government. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) for her campaigning in memory of her late sister Margaret. We should also remember that the late Tessa Jowell raised this issue in 2018, and her family have campaigned ever since.

    Our plan also gives pride of place for children and young people. We will improve their experience of care at every level, from hospital food to youth worker support and play support. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey) for his campaigning on that point. Our children and young people cancer taskforce asked for support with travel costs, because when someone’s child has cancer, the last thing they should worry about is how they will pay for their train ticket. Today, I can announce that we will fund those travel costs.

    Alongside rare and less common cancers, we will make research for children and young people a national priority. I take this moment to thank the children, young people and families who made up our children and young people cancer taskforce. It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet them earlier this week. I thank the many families and loved ones of people lost too soon who continue to fight to make change for others. I am so grateful to them, and I want people to hear their voices as they read the plan, because it is rooted in the voices of patients, families, clinicians and charities. It will turn cancer from one of this country’s biggest killers into a chronic condition that is treatable and manageable for three in four patients. It delivers the ambition of the 10-year health plan, embodies this Government’s three shifts and sets a clear path towards earlier diagnosis, faster treatment and world-leading survival rates by 2035.

    This plan does not belong to the NHS, and it does not belong to the Government; it belongs to us all. We all must play a part in making it work. Over the past year, I have met the patients, families, carers, clinicians, researchers, cancer charities and voluntary groups who all contributed to our plan. This Government is on their side. We wrote this with them, and we cannot deliver it without them. Let us do it together. I commend this statement to the House.