Susan Murray MP: speeches

Speeches

• 25 Jun 2026 · Neuropsychiatric Conditions: PANS and PANDAS · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) for securing this debate, and for all her work to raise the profile of these childhood conditions. I also thank the Backbench Business Committee for selecting this topic for debate. As she said, my hon. Friend first raised PANS/PANDAS in this House more than three years ago and has pushed for change ever since. Indeed, I was pleased to meet the impressive PANS PANDAS UK youth board on their visit to Parliament. For families, the onset of PANS/PANDAS is often sudden and deeply distressing. A child who was well one week can, the next, be gripped by anxiety, tics or obsessive behaviours. What follows is too often not treatment, but a search from GP to specialist and back again for someone who can provide a diagnosis. Almost three years ago, my hon. Friend asked the Government for a small number of reasonable things. I am sorry to say that families still have not seen the change that they are entitled to expect, but I hope that what we heard earlier means that it will be coming soon. The Department of Health and Social Care has said that it does not hold data on how many children are affected, and NICE has not yet produced guidance, after concluding there was insufficient evidence to produce useful guidance. Clinicians are still left without a clear national pathway to follow, even if they are aware of the conditions. The result, as we have heard, is a postcode lottery. A survey for PANS PANDAS UK found that just 2% of families said their GP even considered PANS/PANDAS as a possibility for their child’s symptoms. Families who can pay go private to see specialists; children whose families cannot pay, lose their childhood, miss school and fail to thrive. Such delays are not administrative inconveniences; they are a risk to children’s lives. According to PANS PANDAS UK, 43% of parents say that their child has talked about taking their own life, and 61% say that their child has expressed a desire to no longer be here. These are young children, made desperately unwell by a treatable condition, yet they are waiting months or years for someone simply to recognise what is wrong. There are two mothers in the Gallery today, one from my constituency of Mid Dunbartonshire, and one from just next door. Both have been forced to spend significant sums of their own money on diagnoses and treatment, including travelling down to London to see specialists in private clinics. As we have heard, that is not unusual. Nearly a third of affected families report a financial impact of more than £50,000, and one in eight report an impact of more than £100,000, simply to get their child diagnosed and treated. We have a system in which a recognised diagnosis is reserved for those who can afford to pay for it, and those who cannot are often left behind. Two weeks ago, my Liberal Democrat colleague Adam Harley MSP, who represents many of the same families that I do, raised one of the cases with the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament and called for properly recognised NHS guidance. Health is a devolved matter, but families across Scotland face the same barriers as families anywhere else in the UK, and they frequently end up in England to access treatment. Has the Minister had any discussions with the Scottish Government on taking a unified approach to tackling the issue? Given that we are expecting clinical guidance to be released in August, I am sure that families in Scotland would greatly appreciate co-operation between the Governments in Holyrood and Westminster to help bring the postcode lottery they currently face to an end. PANS/PANDAS are treatable conditions, and children can get their childhood back. To make that happen, I urge the Government to help plug the current gaps in evidence and knowledge around these conditions, including the number of children affected, through supporting research. The Liberal Democrats have called for an increase in research and development spending to 3.5% of GDP to help drive British research, to develop a greater understanding of conditions like PANS/PANDAS, and to evidence the efficacy of available treatment. An effective treatment can change a child’s life—children like Isa and Hugo—for as little as £9. Effective diagnosis and treatment will save the NHS money. Our NHS was founded on the idea that it would treat according to need, not ability to pay. Sadly, in the case of children with PANS/PANDAS, too often that principle is not being upheld. Families simply trying to find treatment for their children are being failed and we must rectify that, wherever in the UK they live.

• 16 Apr 2026 · NHS Federated Data Platform · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making some important points. Just yesterday, I highlighted the Scottish Government’s decision to buy Chinese buses, which come with a serious security risk. It would be wrong of me not to do the same when the UK Government take the same risks. We have some of the finest minds in the world here in the UK, but too frequently, we lose them to foreign firms that are out of our control. Does my hon. Friend agree that we should be developing Britain’s skills base here, and that whether it be buses or AI, we should be putting British jobs and British security first?

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

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  I thank the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) and my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Charlie Maynard) for securing this important debate. I am here speaking tonight on behalf of my friend George, who is now in his eighties and still fundraising for research into brain tumours in the name of his son, David, who he lost far too soon. Brain tumours remain one of the clearest examples of a condition where outcomes have not improved quickly enough. They are the biggest cancer killer of people under 40 in the UK. Each year, more than 12,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour and only a quarter of adults with a primary brain cancer survive for five years after diagnosis. That reality is compounded by late diagnosis. Studies have shown that around 45% of brain tumours are diagnosed in an emergency setting—far higher than for other cancers—meaning too many people start their treatment far later than they should. That is why I support calls for a national cancer plan to increase survival rates of those diagnosed with brain tumours. We have national campaigns to spread information on bowel cancer and other types of cancer to raise awareness, and a campaign would allow people to spot the early signs of brain tumours, but awareness on its own is not enough, as we have been hearing. Earlier recognition has to be matched by specialist services that can respond quickly and consistently. Health and social care are devolved, but brain tumour patients should not find that their chance of being offered a trial or the speed of a referral depends on the nation in which they live. I would therefore like to urge the Government to work with the Scottish Government and other devolved Administrations on a joint approach, with research supported properly across the UK and funding used as effectively as possible. This is about improving outcomes and ensuring fair access. It requires co-operation between the UK Government, the devolved Administrations and research institutions. Research is essential to saving lives and it relies on the co-operation, shared strategy and consistent support for trials. A disjointed approach without co-ordination slows the innovation that is possible. That is a failure not just for researchers, but for patients and the families of those affected. A national strategy is needed to push for awareness to facilitate co-ordination and, most importantly, to save lives.

• 11 Dec 2025 · St Andrew’s Day and Scottish Affairs · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to speak today at my first St Andrew’s day and Scottish affairs debate as the Liberal Democrats spokes- person for Scotland. I congratulate the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing the debate. St Andrew’s day, as we have been hearing, is a moment to reflect on the story of Scotland. We remember St Andrew not only as our patron saint, but as a symbol of solidarity and welcome, a fisherman whose cross now flies above a country built on resilience, hard work, learning and connection. Across the centuries, Scots have made their mark on the world. From the enlightenment thinkers who reshaped modern science and democracy to the coal- miners, foundries, engineers and shipbuilders who powered the industrial revolution, and, of course, the distillers, fishermen and farmers who are known across the world for their specialties in food and drink, Scotland shows again and again how a small nation makes a big contribution. The story of my own constituency of Mid Dunbartonshire sits right at the heart of the national story. Along the line of the Antonine Wall, now a UNESCO world heritage site, Roman soldiers once stood to watch the northern edge of an empire. Later, figures such as Thomas Muir of Huntershill, the father of Scottish democracy, carried the banner of political reform and democratic rights from our own communities to the wider world. The arrival of the Forth and Clyde canal turned Kirkintilloch and Bishopbriggs into hubs of industry and transport, carrying coal, iron and goods from west to east. As time has moved on, Mid Dunbartonshire has changed. Heavy industry has given way to new businesses and growing communities. Milngavie is the starting point of the West Highland Way, welcoming walkers from across the world. Mid Dunbartonshire is home to residents who value being part of our diverse communities and the green space of the Campsie fells. In this journey we see the history of Scotland: resilience in the face of change, pride in community, and a belief that education and hard work can open doors, not just for yourself but for the community around you. It is precisely because we are so proud of that history that we must be honest about the present. We know the people of Scotland have been let down in recent years, with mismanaged finances, abandoned healthcare projects and falling educational standards. Scotland is truly an incredible place, and I am proud to be Scottish, but right now it feels too often that things are not working. Household bills are soaring. Families are cutting back on heating, food and the small treats that make life bearable, just to keep up with rising costs. Long waits to see a GP are now all too common. People are in pain or struggling with their mental health. They are told to wait weeks, if not months, for treatment. We see enormous sums of money frittered away. Take the ferries fiasco: a saga of delay, overspend and broken promises has left island communities feeling abandoned. Sadly, when the Government fail to deliver infrastructure, ordinary people and local businesses pay the price. The story is the same with Scottish education. Once the best in the UK, our system has slipped in international rankings. Teachers work hard, yet promises are broken. They are asked to do more with less, while support for pupils with additional needs is stretched even thinner. People are tired and frustrated, and they are right to be. The Liberal Democrats believe that Scotland deserves better. We believe in fairness for everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from. That is why we have a realistic plan to get things done. We should have a health service that is genuinely there for people when they need it—first-rate care so that people can see their GP, dentist or mental health professional without waiting weeks or months. Health professionals should have fair pay and working conditions, so that talented people stay in our NHS instead of burning out or leaving altogether. That also means that Milngavie needs a new health and care centre, which is badly overdue. We need to tackle the cost of living at its root. In a country that has as much renewable energy as Scotland, it is simply wrong that people are living in fuel poverty. By insulating cold homes, backing community energy projects and making full use of Scottish renewable energy, we can drive down household bills and bills for industry, cut emissions and create good, green jobs in every part of the country. That is tied directly to transport. By fixing our ferries, roads and rail services, we can create an integrated transport network to get Scotland moving again. Rather than cutting services, we need to look at how to expand public transport. Importantly, we need to look at how we can power it with home-grown renewable energy and connect our island communities to give them a sustainable future. Scotland’s past success was built on education, and at the heart of a fairer Scotland lie our schools, colleges and universities. Returning Scottish education to its best means expanding pupil support in every school and giving every child the best start in life. It means more classroom assistants, specialist support for additional needs, and a renewed focus on literacy, numeracy and science. It means providing enough places for Scottish students in our world-class universities, and enough further education to fill our skills gaps, offering a future to young people who do not currently feel that they can look forward to a brighter future. Above all, it means backing our teaching professionals with the resources they need and recognising that education is an investment in Scotland’s future. St Andrew’s day reminds us that Scotland’s story has always been one of connection between the past and the future, and between our own communities and the wider world. Scottish people and their descendants are found all over the world, as are the red telephone boxes, which were manufactured in my consistency, that are all over London and all over the world. The choices that we make now will decide whether the next chapter of our story is one of decline and managed disappointment, or of renewal built on fairness and opportunity. Scotland deserves better. I want us to honour Scotland’s history and the history of places such as Mid Dunbartonshire by matching the ambition, courage and sense of justice shown by those who went before us.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  First, I welcome the £820 million increase in funding for Scotland, the largest real-terms settlement Scotland has received. I have no doubt that my constituents will be pleased to hear of the increase, and I can only hope that they will benefit from it. Today’s theme is investment, and I would like to address the SNP’s lacklustre investment in our health infrastructure. To be clear, I want to ensure that the money sent to Scotland for devolved matters is not frittered away by SNP Scottish Government mismanagement. The residents of my constituency have been crying out for a healthcare centre for years. I have written to the Scottish Government on numerous occasions, pressing both the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for action. The response is always the same: either a resounding no or silence. The people of Mid Dunbartonshire deserve better. Nearby in East Renfrewshire, they have received the very same type of health and care centre we have been crying out for, showing what is possible in constituencies like mine when the SNP provides adequate funding. By investing in local health and care, we could make serious long-term savings for the NHS, preventing costly long-term conditions and avoidable hospital admissions through early intervention. That would give the community access to the care, health and wellbeing it needs close to home, reducing the need for often frail or elderly constituents to make the difficult journey to Glasgow. I urge the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to join me in writing to the Scottish Government to request that the residents of Mid Dunbartonshire get the health and care hub they deserve.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Baby Loss · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. and hon. Members who secured the debate, as well as those who have shared their story. Every Member here agrees that the tragedy of losing a child is one of the greatest anyone can face, yet sadly it is all too common an experience; nearly half the population has either experienced the loss of a baby or knows someone who has. It is with that deeply saddening thought in mind that I want to pay tribute to the tireless campaigning of Louise Caldwell in Scotland. After her experience of loss, she has influenced the Scottish Government’s strategy on baby loss. She has also succeeded in getting two baby loss units opened—at Wishaw hospital, in the constituency of the hon. Member for Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke (Pamela Nash), and at Gilbert Bain hospital, with the support of my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) and our Liberal Democrat colleague Beatrice Wishart MSP. Those dedicated facilities allow mothers, fathers and families to grieve the loss of their baby in the most dignified and compassionate environment we can provide. I realise that this is a devolved matter, but I am sure that everyone in the Chamber understands the need for baby loss units and, along with them, compassionate labour rooms, away from the sounds of happier arrivals, for those all over the UK who experience delivering a sleeping angel. While dedicated spaces are essential, we must also look at prevention. I find it deeply concerning that we continue to see repeated failings in maternity services. The Ockenden report on Shrewsbury and Telford, and the East Kent inquiry, highlighted systemic issues, including inadequate equipment, crumbling maternity wards, weak incident management and slow triage of urgent cases. Furthermore, it is unacceptable that when my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) asked the Department about progress regarding implementing the recommendations of the report, the answer implied not only that Ministers could not confirm delivery but that they had no mechanism to measure any progress made. That is simply not good enough, as the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) highlighted. We need a national strategy that extends across all four nations, with clear baselines to ensure that mothers and babies receive the care they need and deserve. We need clear and transparent measures to ensure that standards are being met and to identify when they are not, because ultimately this is about protecting women and babies.

• 16 Sept 2025 · Religious Crematoriums · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered the provision of religious crematoria. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I am grateful to have secured this important debate on the provision of religious crematoriums and the access issues faced by faith communities across our country. At its heart, this debate is about dignity, respect and equality. How we support families at the end of life is a test of our society’s values. Every person, regardless of faith or background, deserves the opportunity to say farewell to their loved ones in a manner that honours traditions and beliefs. For many, cremation or burial may seem a straightforward matter, an administrative process supported by local authorities and funeral providers. Yet for a significant section of our population, and particularly those from minority faiths, the reality is far more complex. Limited provision, a lack of awareness, and regulatory barriers too often mean that families are left distressed and unsupported at the moment when they most need compassion. I want to begin with the provision of crematoriums. There are more than 300 crematoriums across the United Kingdom, but the vast majority operate on a standardised model that does not reflect the full diversity of religious practice. For many communities, including Hindu and Buddhist communities, religious tradition often requires that cremation be accompanied by specific rites—including chanting, prayers and periods of meditation before the cremation itself—yet many crematoriums impose strict time limits, restrict the length of services or fail to provide space for those rituals to take place with the dignity they deserve. Families are therefore required to adapt their practices, often in ways that feel at odds with centuries of teaching. That adaptation is accepted by some. For others, it leaves a sense that their most sacred rituals are being denied. This is not a question of faith; it is about fairness and equality. We must not have a situation in which some families can conduct funerals according to their beliefs with ease, while others must travel hundreds of miles, negotiate with reluctant providers or compromise on their most cherished traditions. That inequality is compounded by financial barriers. In many parts of the UK, families seeking more accommodating crematoriums find themselves reliant on private providers. The cost of travelling, combined with higher fees, makes it impossible for many to access the services they need. For some, this results in long delays or fragmented ceremonies, which add to the distress of bereavement. Local authorities are, of course, under immense financial pressure, but the Equality Act 2010 places clear duties on public bodies. They must have due regard to the needs of religious communities under the public sector equality duty. Inadequate provision risks indirect discrimination against minority faiths, undermining the principle of equal treatment before the law. There are some examples of progress. At Great Glen crematorium in Leicestershire, a dedicated Hindu shrine has been installed to support ritual practice. Leicester city council’s burial space strategy recognises the growing demand from Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist communities for more suitable provision. Alongside cremation, I want to address burial. For Muslim families and Jewish families, religious teaching requires that a body be buried as soon as possible—within 24 hours of death. That is not a matter of preference; it is a religious obligation. Reading borough council took the local Muslim community’s needs into account when updating its cemetery regulations, but the truth is that good practice remains the exception, not the rule.

• 2 Sept 2025 · Defibrillators · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) for raising this important issue and for highlighting that every day in the United Kingdom, people suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and do not survive, when they might have been saved by access to a defibrillator. In my constituency, more than 60% of people live in a defib desert. Concerned about that, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy football club has compiled a list of locations of defibrillators in its area and shared the information widely, while groups such as Torrance parish church and Milngavie and Bearsden Men’s Shed have equipped their facilities with them. The efforts of people in our communities are saving lives, and the increasing number of defibrillators is a good sign. While there are still not enough, we are heading in the right direction. I want to highlight the Lauren’s law campaign, which was started following the sudden death of a 19-year-old from an asthma attack and calls for the provision of non-prescription salbutamol asthma inhalers at defibrillator sites. In that way, we can save even more lives by having emergency equipment available and accessible in our communities. I urge the Government to make defibrillators easier for our communities and first responders to access—and by providing inhalers in the same locations, we can prevent even more unnecessary deaths.

• 10 Jul 2025 · Children’s Health · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for bringing such an important debate. I feel strongly about this matter, having trained as a dietician, and I understand the implications that a poor diet in early life can have for a child’s future. From health outcomes to educational outcomes, poor nutrition has a serious, detrimental and long-term effect. The hon. Member mentioned many other health conditions, but I will talk just about diet. We often assume that parents understand what constitutes a healthy diet for their children, but sadly that assumption is often false. There are so many competing messages in this space. According to the British Nutrition Foundation, nearly one third of parents say that they are uncertain about how much their child should eat. More than a third admit that they regularly make their child finish everything on their plate, regardless of hunger or nutritional need. These are not bad parents; they are well-meaning families trying their best in an environment that fails to equip them with the knowledge they need and that often makes healthy choices less accessible. Even when parents have some nutritional awareness, that knowledge does not always translate into healthy practice. Research shows that inconsistent portioning and irregular parental eating habits can contribute to poor outcomes, even among families with higher nutritional literacy. In short, good intentions are being undermined by a lack of clear, practical guidance. That is not a new problem, but it is growing with time. As we have heard, across the UK 10% of children aged four to five are overweight or obese; by the ages of 10 to 11, that figure rises to 22%. The covid pandemic deepened the crisis. During lockdown, many families saw a sharp rise in unhealthy snacking and reduced access to fresh, nutritious food. In homes where both time and money were tight, convenience often won out over balance. The cost of inaction is already visible, and it is vast. Obesity-related conditions cost the NHS more than £6 billion a year, and the wider cost to society stands at around £27 billion annually. Without meaningful intervention, that figure is projected to rise by £50 billion by 2050. Meaningful intervention must include access to NHS dentists. A child with a mouth full of rotten teeth cannot enjoy an apple or crunch on a carrot as a healthy snack. Dental health is really important to a healthy diet.