‘We are letting lives slip away,” says Neil Parish.

Tiverton and Honiton MP Neil Parish has pledged to help charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer improve outcomes for breast cancer patients and ensure his constituents have access to the best services.

He made the pledge after attending the charity’s annual parliamentary reception.

“I was shocked to hear that the UK’s breast cancer survival rates fall behind other European countries and, as a result, we’re letting over 1,000 lives slip away from us every year,” Mr Parish told the Midweek Herald.

“More than 48,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK and I want to make sure that everyone in Westminster and my constituency knows we can do much more.”

Breakthrough Breast Cancer is dedicated to the prevention, treatment and eradication of the disease. As well as funding around a quarter of breast cancer research in the UK, Breakthrough persistently campaigns for better services and treatments and continues to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer to enable early detection.

Chris Askew, chief executive at Breakthrough Breast Cancer said:“The continuing fight against breast cancer can only be successful if the challenge we set in Westminster today is taken up by each of these MPs locally tomorrow.

“The women and families affected by breast cancer in their constituency are relying on them to work with the local health services to help achieve survival rates that we can be proud of.”