Pancreatic Cancer UK at the political party conferences

The new Parliament means new opportunities to make pancreatic cancer a priority. 

This autumn, hundreds of MPs attended their party’s conference, and we couldn’t miss this opportunity to ask them to support people affected by pancreatic cancer. So, we packed our bags to join the biggest ever cohort of new MPs at two of this year’s conferences. 

Our massive impact together 

Party conferences are where MPs come together to discuss their party’s policies and hear from key stakeholders – including charities like ourselves – about what needs to be on their agenda for this Parliament. So they’re a key opportunity to tell them why they should be prioritising pancreatic cancer.  

We were thrilled to have more than one hundred MPs visit our stand across the two conferences!   

We had lots of great conversations about how MPs can support with us to drive early diagnosis, better treatment and more research breakthroughs for people with pancreatic cancer.  

Most MPs agreed to take forward at least one action point to support our work. We also had hundreds of valuable conversations with other visitors at the conferences: local councillors, people affected by pancreatic cancer, other charities and many more 

Time and again, MPs said they were visiting our stand because one of their constituents had asked them to. 

Thank you to over five hundred you who wrote to your MP: you put pancreatic cancer on the map!  

Some MPs we spoke to hold important positions related to healthcare and cancer in the new Government, including the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting, and Cancer Minister Karin Smyth. We also met Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper MP. We’re now arranging meetings with all the MPs who have agreed to help us take action in the new Parliament. 

We were also delighted to meet a number of people who are living beyond pancreatic cancer – including Jackie at Liberal Democrat conference, who received treatment for pancreatic cancer 30 years ago, and Michael at Labour Party conference, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago.  Their stories show that survival is truly possible – and that people with pancreatic cancer deserve more than hope.

We won best new stand! 

With so many different causes competing for attention, we designed our exhibition stand to be as attention-grabbing as possible. Our bold messaging paid off, we attracted hundreds of visitors and were awarded Best New Stand at the Labour Party Conference! 

We’re delighted to have had such a great impact at party conferences and to have had so many helpful conversations with new MPs. Now, we’ll be following up those conversations to make sure they translate into action.

This Parliament has the potential to be the one where survival is finally transformed – and we’ll be doing everything we can to make that happen. 

Sign up to our Campaigns Community to hear about opportunities to keep up the momentum by influencing your MP.