Andy Burnham told MPs he backs the Lobular Moon Shot Project, founded in Horsham, and will meet it again. There is still no £20m research pledge.
The Prime Minister has told the House of Commons he still supports the Lobular Moon Shot Project, the breast cancer research campaign launched in Horsham in 2023. Andy Burnham also said he would meet the campaigners again.
He was answering a question at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 14 October. It came from Peter Fortune, the Conservative MP for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Hansard, 14 October 2026).
Mr Fortune said it had been 43 days since the Prime Minister received a letter backing the project, signed by all the opposition parties, and that no reply had come. He reminded Mr Burnham that he had committed to the project as Mayor of Greater Manchester, and asked him to reaffirm it.
The Prime Minister replied:
“I will indeed, and I remember the meeting very well. I speak as someone whose family has been affected by breast cancer. I look forward to meeting the group again, perhaps with the hon. Gentleman and with other colleagues on all sides of the House.”
He did not mention money. The campaign’s central ask, £20 million for research, has not been granted.
A campaign that started in Horsham
The project was formally launched in Horsham on 25 May 2023 by Dr Susan Michaelis, a former Australian airline pilot and a constituent of Horsham’s MP (Lobular Moon Shot Project). She was diagnosed with invasive lobular breast cancer in 2013 and died on 9 July 2025.
Her husband, Tristan Loraine, and a group of volunteers, many of them women living with the disease, now run it.
Horsham’s MP, John Milne, has been its main voice in Parliament. On 9 July this year, the first anniversary of Dr Michaelis’s death, he led a Westminster Hall debate on government support for the project (Hansard, 9 July 2026).
He told MPs how her cancer was found. Two mammograms and two ultrasounds told her there was nothing to worry about. An MRI scan then found a 2.5cm tumour, and surgery showed it was 7cm.
“That gap between what standard imaging can see and what is actually there is the heart of why lobular breast cancer needs its own research programme,” he said.
What the campaign wants
The project wants £20 million over five years to study the basic biology of lobular breast cancer. Its research partner is the Manchester Breast Centre at the University of Manchester.
The campaign’s case, from its own site and the July debate:
- lobular breast cancer is the second most common type of breast cancer
- about 22 people a day are diagnosed with it in the UK, which Mr Milne put at more than 8,000 a year
- it often fails to show up on a mammogram or an ultrasound
- there is no treatment designed for it; patients get the same drugs as for the more common ductal type
The campaign says 470 MPs now support it (silent vigils page). On 1 September a letter signed by all 17 opposition party leaders was delivered to the Prime Minister, asking him to ring-fence the money (Lobular Moon Shot Project).
Where the Government stands
The Government’s last detailed answer came in July’s debate. The health minister Stephen Kinnock said a £20 million ringfence was not how research is normally funded.
“Currently the Government are not of the view that a ringfencing approach is the right way to go,” he said. Funding is instead given to bids that win in open, peer-reviewed competition.
He added that research money for lobular breast cancer “does not have a ceiling”, and said the Government would encourage researchers to apply (Hansard, 9 July 2026).
So the Prime Minister’s words on Wednesday restate his support. They do not change that policy. The test for the campaign is what comes out of the promised meeting, which has no date yet.
What it means for you
- Screening. The NHS invites women aged 50 up to their 71st birthday for breast screening every three years, the minister told MPs in July. Lobular cancer can be missed by a mammogram, so a clear result does not rule it out. If you notice a change in a breast, see your GP rather than waiting for your next screening.
- Supporting the campaign. The project takes donations through its JustGiving page and runs silent vigils in Westminster, 22 minutes long, one for each person diagnosed every day. Details and a mailing list are on lobularmoonshot.org.
- Your MP. Mr Milne is the MP for the Horsham constituency. If you live elsewhere in the district, find your MP to see whether they are among the supporters.
We will report the outcome of the meeting with the Prime Minister when the campaign or Downing Street publishes it.
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