Rare Cancers Bill

When H/Advisors Cicero Partner Sonia Khan reached out to MP Scott Arthur after her husband’s 14-year battle with brain cancer, she helped drive national momentum behind the Rare Cancers Bill - the first UK legislation aimed at improving early diagnosis, data collection and research funding for rare cancers.

For the Bill to stand a chance of becoming law it needed cross-party support and public visibility. Working entirely pro bono, Sonia secured ten agency hours a week and a three-person secretariat to coordinate over forty cancer charities. H/Advisors Cicero united The Brain Tumour Charity, Brain Tumour Research and Pancreatic Cancer UK at the heart of a coalition that brought professional structure and pace to a cause long overlooked.

When five last-minute amendments threatened to derail the Bill before its Second Reading, the team responded within 24 hours. Partner charities mobilised supporters to send almost 200,000 emails to MPs, ensuring the Chamber was packed and the Bill survived.

The Bill has passed its Third Reading in the Commons and awaits its Second Reading in the Lords in early 2026 - an achievement reached by only 5 per cent of Private Members’ Bills tabled since 2010 - and has secured full Government backing. The coalition continues to work with Peers and Ministers to align its aims with the forthcoming Cancer Plan, turning parliamentary momentum into long-term policy change.

This zero-budget campaign united forty charities, hundreds of patients and cross-party MPs behind one purpose: to make rare cancers visible in UK health policy.