SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME? PROFILING THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEALTH ADVOCATES IN PARLIAMENT #MakingPerfectSenseofHealth | @MHPHealth 1 Shape of Things to Come? FOREWORD PETE DIGGER MANAGING DIRECTOR, ENGINE | MHP The General Election result of “ A diminished Official Opposition December 2019 has effectively put means that backbench voices an end to the uncertainty around the are likely to be more influential UK’s departure from the European than ever.” Union. However, the exodus of a large As a result of the arithmetic in the House number of established backbench of Commons, the last Parliament was parliamentarians and likely changes characterised by stasis for the NHS, even to the structure of government despite May’s injection of cash and the present a new and uncharted development of the Long Term Plan. environment for those looking to There was no primary legislation, with action engage with policymakers. playing out in the corridors of NHS England, the Department and HM Treasury. Things will Nowhere is that more the case than in be different this time: December’s Queen’s healthcare, where a number of high-profile Speech contained five bills within health and MPs including former Health Committee Chair social care, with the most significant legislative Dr Sarah Wollaston and APPG for Cancer proposals proposed by NHS England still to Chair Nic Dakin are no longer in post. come. A sizable working Conservative majority means much of this will enter into law. However However, while the loss of those expert the opportunities for scrutiny and amendments voices in health and care is notable, there during the passage of any piece of legislation are many potential advocates among the gives Parliament a renewed sense of new intake of MPs. A diminished Official importance for the healthcare community. Opposition means that backbench voices are likely to be more influential than ever. Those We hope you find this briefing useful as entering the House of Commons for the first you finalise your engagement programmes time include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, for 2020. bioinformaticians, life sciences analysts, Happy reading! pharmaceutical industry professionals and even a former dolphin trainer. This briefing highlights those new MPs who have a background in areas of relevance to our sector and who, in many cases, could go on to be potential champions of healthcare issues. 1 Shape of Things to Come? CANDIDATES & CONSTITUENCIES Amy Callaghan Ian Levy SNP, East Dunbartonshire Con, Blyth Valley Dr Neil Hudson Con, Penrith and the Border Katherine Fletcher Antony Higginbotham Con, South Ribble Con, Burnley Paula Barker Miriam Cates Lab, Liverpool Wavertree Con, Penistone & Stocksbridge Dr James Davies Olivia Blake Con, Vale of Clwyd Lab, Sheffield Hallam Carla Lockhart Dr Luke Evans DUP, Upper Bann Con, Bosworth Paul Bristow Sarah Atherton Con, Peterborough Con, Wrexham Anthony Browne Virginia Crosbie Con, Cambridgeshire Con, Ynys Môn South Sarah Owen Dr Keiran Mullan Lab, Luton North Con, Crewe and Nantwich Dean Russell Amanda Solloway Con, Watford Con, Derby North Feryal Clark Taiwo Owatemi Lab, Enfield North Lab, Coventry North West Munira Wilson Selaine Saxby Lib Dem, Twickenham Con, Devon North Dr Ben Spencer Caroline Ansell Con, Runnymede and Weybridge Con, Eastbourne Elliot Colburn Con, Carshalton and Wallington 2 Shape of Things to Come? CAROLINE ANSELL CONSERVATIVES, EASTBOURNE (MAJORITY: 2,904) A coastal resort town in the south of England, Cancer Eastbourne has historically been a Lib Dem/ In addition to her work on bowel cancer screening, Conservative marginal. In 2015, Caroline Ansell won Ms Ansell has spoken widely about her son, who was the seat for the Conservatives from Liberal Democrat diagnosed at the age of five with a brain tumour and Stephen Lloyd. However, Mr Lloyd won the seat back treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital. A self-declared from Ms Ansell at the 2017 General Election, but Ms NHS “frequent flyer”, Ms Ansell has declared that the Ansell has now retaken it. The constituency is covered “NHS is written into [her] political DNA”. by Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford CCG. Carers First elected in 2015, Ms Ansell served in Parliament for Given Ms Ansell’s experience caring for her son, she has only two years before losing her seat. Ms Ansell made unsurprisingly been vocal on caring, citing statistics that her maiden speech as part of a debate on health and suggest one in ten people in the Eastbourne constituency social care, stating that “health was her top priority”. is a carer and pledging to make this a key priority for In her time in Parliament, Ms Ansell supported a number her as an MP. Ms Answell also states that she is working of healthcare causes, including championing an increase to build an awareness of dementia, with a new wave of in the uptake rate of bowel cancer screening. Dementia Friends programmes. SARAH ATHERTON CONSERVATIVES, WREXHAM (MAJORITY: 2,131) Wrexham in North Wales has been a Labour seat After a career in the military, Sarah Atherton trained as since 1935, with Ian Lucas serving the seat since a nurse, becoming a District Nurse before moving into 2001. In the 2019 election, the Conservatives took social services representing elderly people and mental the historically Labour-voting seat for the first time. health. She has most recently been in small business, The constituency is covered by the Betsi Cadwaladr running a micro-brewery in Wrexham. Within healthcare, University Health Board. Ms Atherton has said that she would use her experience of working in the social care sector to raise awareness of young people’s mental health issues and also meeting the needs of older generations – such as addressing issues in housing, health, social support and care. 3 Shape of Things to Come? PAULA BARKER LABOUR, LIVERPOOL WAVERTREE (MAJORITY: 27,085) Liverpool Wavertree was the constituency of Ms Barker was a regional convenor for the UNISON Luciana Berger, the former Labour MP who defected union, working as a secretary of the Halton branch in from the party to join Change UK, before joining the Widnes. Her predecessor as the North West regional Liberal Democrats later in 2019. Wavertree is solidly convenor was Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Labour, with the Party’s majority never dipping Education Secretary. In her role working for UNISON, the below 5,000 since its formation. The seat is country’s public service union, which counts nearly half covered by Liverpool CCG. a million NHS workers among its members, Ms Barker was prominent in speaking up for hospital workers’ rights, including joining the picket line to support striking agency workers at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. The NHS Barker has also criticised Boris Johnson’s handling of the NHS, writing in her UNISON blog that he is “paper[ing] over the cracks of a health service which is starved of funding and beset by privatisation and outsourcing.” OLIVIA BLAKE LABOUR, SHEFFIELD HALLAM (MAJORITY: 712) A hotly contested marginal constituency, Olivia Blake studied biomedical science at university Sheffield Hallam returned its first Labour MP in its before taking a role working for the NHS in Sheffield. history at the 2017 General Election, with Jared Ms Blake has also focused on workforce and pay issues, O’Mara unseating former Liberal Democrat leader including Chairing the University of Sheffield’s Living Nick Clegg in one of the most significant upsets of Wage campaign. the election. O’Mara was embroiled in a number of Ms Blake serves as a Non-Executive Director on high-profile controversies upon entering Parliament, the Board of Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS culminating in his expulsion from the Labour Party Foundation Trust and has worked with Healthwatch and his arrest on suspicion of expenses fraud. Sheffield in order to raise the issue of inclusive The seat is covered by Sheffield CCG. commissioning and procurement and supply chain partnerships. 4 Shape of Things to Come? P A U L BRISTOW CONSERVATIVES, PETERBOROUGH (MAJORITY: 2,580) Prior to the election, Peterborough was one the Paul Bristow previously worked in political consulting, country’s closest marginal constituencies, with the running his own agency which has a focus on delivering seat having changed hands several times between public affairs for medical device companies, and was Labour and the Conservatives over the past forty years. the Chair of the Association of Professional Political Earlier in 2019, a by-election to replace Labour’s Fiona Consultants, the APPC. In politics, Mr Bristow was Onasanya, who was recalled after being found guilty previously a councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham for perverting the course of justice for lying to avoid between 2006 and 2010. He contested Peterborough’s prosecution for speeding, returned Labour MP Lisa 2019 by-election, finishing third behind the Labour Forbes with a slim majority of 683. However, the 2019 victor and the Brexit Party. election has once more returned a Conservative MP. In 2017, Mr Bristow authored an article for the The seat is covered by NHS Cambridgeshire Conservative Home website, entitled “The NHS needs and Peterborough CCG. more money”, in which he called for spending on the health service and on social care to rise consistently beyond the average level for EU and OECD countries. He particularly highlighted the issues with recruitment and retention of staff, arguing for a restructuring of NHS job titles to eliminate the ‘junior doctor’ title. ANTHONY BROWNE CONSERVATIVES, CAMBRIDGESHIRE SOUTH (MAJORITY: 2,904) Covering the outskirts of Cambridge, as well as a The NHS number of university buildings and colleges, the In 2001, Mr Browne wrote an article for The Observer South Cambridgeshire constituency has been held entitled ‘Why the NHS is bad for us’. Arguing that the by the Conservatives since its creation in 1997.