Public health minister steps down to continue cancer treatment

Public health and prevention minister Ashley Dalton has resigned from her role to continue with her cancer treatment.

MP Ashley Dalton has written to the Prime Minister to announce that she will step back from ministerial duties to manage her condition and focus on representing her constituents in West Lancashire.

Throughout her career, Ms Dalton has been outspoken in her support for nurses, thanking them for their role in key initiatives such as the chickenpox vaccination programme.

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In her letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Ms Dalton said she had the ‘privilege’ of introducing the government’s recent National Cancer Plan which has promised to introduce ‘new opportunities’ for newly registered and experienced nurses to pursue a career in cancer nursing.

The MP also wrote about her treatment in the letter, stating she will be continuing oral chemotherapy but that it will not stop her being ‘a champion’ for her constituents.

‘I believe now is the right time to take the reasonable adjustments I need to both manage my condition and focus on being a constituency MP by stepping back from ministerial duties,’ she wrote.

Wes Streeting, secretary of state for health and social care said: ‘In just a year, Ashley has managed to achieve more as an outstanding minister than many politicians do in their entire career.

‘Her enormous contribution is made even more extraordinary by the adversity she has faced throughout her ministerial tenure.

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‘As a woman living with and receiving treatment for metastatic breast cancer, I know how much work she put into spearheading the government’s National Cancer Plan, which will not just save lives but help others with cancer live and work well.

‘Her dedication, drive and influence will similarly continue to be felt across every area of health policy she worked on.’

He added: ‘Ashley will be a huge loss to our ministerial team, but I fully respect her decision to step down to concentrate on representing the people of West Lancashire and will be forever proud of everything we achieved together as friends as well as colleagues.’

Replying to Ms Dalton’s resignation letter, Mr Starmer said he is proud of the impact she has made including her involvement in the HIV Action Plan and the first ever Men’s Health Strategy.

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He wrote: ‘Whilst I will be sorry to lose you from the frontbench, I know you will continue to serve your constituents in West Lancashire with the energy and commitment you have shown as minister.’

Ms Dalton was first elected as MP for West Lancashire in 2022. In February last year, she was appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state for public health and prevention in the Department of Health and Social Care.