White Rose campaign letter presented to Health Minister at Labour Party Conference

Yorkshire Cancer Research presented a powerful open letter to Health Minister Ashley Dalton at the Labour Party Conference this week, marking a pivotal moment in the charity’s White Rose campaign to tackle long-standing cancer inequalities in the region.

The letter, delivered in person by charity representatives, was accompanied by the names of more than 2,500 supporters across Yorkshire who pledged symbolic white roses to represent their call for a cancer-free future.

Ashley Dalton, MP for West Lancashire and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, received the letter with “warmth and enthusiasm”, recognising the strength of public support behind the campaign and expressing her optimism for the opportunities the upcoming National Cancer Plan will bring.

The open letter outlines key policy asks drawn directly from the charity’s landmark White Rose Cancer Report, which sets out four recommendations the charity would like the Government to include in the National Cancer Plan, which is due to be published later this year.

Ashley Dalton was previously presented with the full White Rose Cancer Report by Tom Gordon, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, and Kim Leadbeater, MP for Spen Valley.

Last month, 500 white roses were cycled from Harrogate to Westminster by Olympic and Commonwealth medal-winning cyclists Charlie and Harry Tanfield, whose personal connection to the cause, having lost their mother to cancer, added emotional weight to the journey.

The handcrafted paper flowers created by Whitby artist Sophie Longhurst were presented as a visual message to Parliament: Yorkshire must be fairly represented in the upcoming National Cancer Plan.

Among those who pledged a rose were:

• Geoff Rodley from Pudsey, whose life positively changed after he successfully quitting smoking through Yorkshire Cancer Research’s Yorkshire Stop Smoking Study.
• Neil Garner from Sheffield, who successfully prepared for and recovered from bowel cancer surgery after receiving research-backed exercise treatment through the charity’s Active Together service.  
• Bill Hall from York, who took part in Yorkshire Cancer Research’s FOxTROT 3 clinical trial and was able to have less invasive keyhole surgery for bowel cancer after receiving chemotherapy beforehand.
• Lesley Penty from Barnsley, whose lung cancer was found early after she attended a lung health check. Yorkshire Cancer Research’s Leeds Lung Health Check clinical trial helped pave the way for a national lung screening programme.

The White Rose campaign has received cross-party support from more than 40 politicians, including Tom Gordon, MP for Harrogate & Knaresborough, Katie White, MP for Leeds North West, Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton and Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire.  

Currently, Yorkshire receives less than 5% of national health research funding despite representing 8% of the UK population. Every 17 minutes, someone in Yorkshire is diagnosed with cancer - a statistic the charity says must be addressed through urgent policy change.