Paul Davies MP: speeches

Speeches

• 9 Feb 2026 · Brain Tumour Survival Rates · Hansard source

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  Each year, around 13,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour, including 900 children and young people. Despite that scale, progress in survival rates has lagged behind other cancers. Just 13% of adults survive five years after a high grade diagnosis, and brain tumours remain the leading cancer killer for children and adults under 40. I recently spoke with one of my constituents in Colne Valley whose husband was diagnosed with two brain tumours earlier this year. He now faces a long period of recovery to relearn many of the day-to-day functions that most of us take for granted. His courage and their campaign highlight the urgent need for renewed investment in brain tumour research, treatment and care, so that everyone affected has the best chance at life. Brain tumour research currently receives just 1% of the total UK cancer research funding. I therefore welcome the Government’s national cancer plan as a vital step forward, particularly the £13.7 million investment in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, which will accelerate much-needed innovation. I am also encouraged by the commitment to implement the provisions of the Rare Cancers Bill, which will expand the access to clinical trials. Brain tumour patients must fully benefit from these measures. They face the lowest clinical trial recruitment rates of any cancer type, with the Brain Tumour Charity reporting that just 12% of patients have taken part. Too often, it is the distance from specialist cancer centres that stands in the way. Investment in research must therefore stand hand in hand with improved access, because postcode should never determine the support patients receive. Palliative care, too, must be integral to our strategy. I have seen first-hand, through the remarkable work of the hospices serving my constituents, the difference it can make. By helping patients manage physical and emotional side-effects, supporting physical activity where possible, and caring for families and loved ones who are also affected, palliative care can offer life-extending support for those with brain tumours. I echo the calls for a renewed effort to tackle the devastatingly low survival rates for brain tumours. Through greater investment in research, better access to innovative treatments and stronger support for those living with the disease, we can give every person facing a brain tumour the best possible chance—the same chance I had when I was diagnosed with colon cancer, which was curable through the appropriate treatment I received by some amazing clinicians.

• 1 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  It feels like a lifetime since 2022, when a Prime Minister and a Chancellor gambled with our economy. They put Britain in hock to the bond markets, sent mortgage rates soaring and plunged millions of families into hardship. That reckless approach left deep scars that our communities still bear today. Contrast that chaos with what my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has delivered in her Budget. Instead of instability, we have security; instead of ideology, we have investment. She has put money into the NHS, backed innovation, supported start-ups, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the British public during a cost of living crisis created by the Conservative party. Under the last Government, the country spiralled downwards towards despair. Today, we are reversing that and creating hope for the future. The cost of living remains the single biggest concern for my constituents. It was the first issue they raised with me ahead of the Budget, which is why I welcome the practical steps in the Budget that will make a tangible difference to everyday life: £150 off energy bills, a freeze on NHS prescription charges, a freeze on rail fares for the first time in three decades, alongside a cap on bus fares, the national living wage moving up to £12.71 an hour, the state pension increased by 4.8% from April 2026, the two-child benefit cap scrapped, and expanded free school meals and breakfast clubs. These changes will ease the pressure on families and commuters alike. I very much welcome the rise in the national minimum wage and national living wage, giving full-time workers an annual boost of around £900. One of my biggest asks of this Budget was action on the two-child limit. I came into politics to eradicate child poverty, and the measures announced in the Budget to lift children out of hardship are hugely welcome. The decisions of the last Tory Government pushed more than 900,000 children into poverty. That was an absolute disgrace. I am proud that this Labour Government are reversing that damage. I reject the notion that those who need state support are somehow irresponsible or on the take. The real scandal is the number of parents who are in work yet still in poverty. Let us be very clear: we cannot simply stand to one side and allow those children to suffer the ravages of poverty. That was the reality of the two-child cap and its abhorrent rape clause. Ending that injustice is the right thing to do. In my constituency of Colne Valley, ending the cap will benefit around 1,520 children. That, alongside the expansion of breakfast clubs, such as the one at Scapegoat Hill primary school, will transform life chances for young people in my area. As I said earlier, this Budget is about not ideology but investment. It is about investment in all our people, in particular our young people, who all deserve the best start in life, fair access to good jobs and career opportunities. This is not the blinkered ideology that we have seen from the Tories and Reform, but Labour values embedded in fairness and equality of opportunity, so that it does not matter where people are born and who to. Everyone deserves a real and tangible share in the successes of this country, so I am proud to support this Budget, particularly the lifting of the two-child cap, which will make a huge difference to so many of my constituents and many more across the country. This is a Budget that is anti-poverty and pro-children, and that is surely something we can all get behind.