ON WEDNESDAY, I accepted a petition, organised by campaigners from across Gwent and signed by 100,000 people, calling for a Cancer Drugs Fund to end the Welsh postcode lottery in access to life-extending medicines.

In Wales today, a patient is seven times less likely to access a new cancer medicine than a patient in England.

This is because patients in England can access the Cancer Drugs Fund set up by the Coalition government, while in Wales, the Labour-run Welsh Government continues to deny this to Welsh patients — even if a cancer patient has been recommended a drug by their own consultant or oncologist.

According to the Rarer Cancers Foundation, there are 72 innovative cancer medicines that are readily available in other parts of the UK but not routinely available in Wales.

The likely cost of a Cancer Treatments Fund is just £5million — a drop in the ocean compared to the £52million Labour spent buying Cardiff Airport.

I pay tribute to Ann Wilkinson, Julie McGowan and other campaigners from Monmouthshire and across South Wales who spent so much time compiling one of the biggest petitions Wales has ever seen and who travelled to Cardiff to present it to me.

I’m sorry that Labour Ministers refused to meet you, but they heard your calls. I hope they will put politics aside and set up this fund now to give Welsh cancer patients equal access to cancer medicines that could extend their lives.

Nick Ramsay AM for Monmouth