Pushing our cause at the Party Conferences 

Autumn 2025 saw a milestone for Allergy UK, as staff attended the Labour and Conservative party conferences for the first time. With both parties announcing new developments, such as the Government’s new 10 Year Health Plan for England and the Conservatives’ health policy renewal, it was vital to ensure the voice of the allergic community was heard at these key conferences.  

At the Labour Conference, the team met with Allergy Champion Chris Bloore MP and attended multiple fringe events taking place around the main conference on health, hearing from senior politicians and experienced health charities alike. We attended the Health Charity Showcase, hearing from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting MP directly, as he spoke about the importance health charities have in building a healthier Britain. Also in attendance were Karin Smythe MP, Minister of State for Health and Social Care, and Rosie Wrighting MP, PPS in the Department of Health and Social Care.Allergy UK was delighted to speak to them both about the changes we want to see.  

It was encouraging to hear parliamentarians and healthcare practitioners recognise the needs of the NHS and to learn more about the promised development of NHS digital services. In particular, the government’s commitment to a single patient record directly aligns with our call for a National Allergy Register and we were keen to push for more details about this innovation to ensure this opportunity to consolidate patient data nationwide and create unified understanding of allergy prevalence is not missed.  

At the Conservative conference, we attended a wide range of fringe events and thinktank conversations, raising questions on behalf of the allergic community about solving the unmet needs of people with allergy, implementing best practice allergy healthcare, and how best to resolve the lack of recognition for the scale of the problem facing care for allergic disease, receiving encouraging recognition for raising awareness about our concerns. We also attended roundtables on health, met with key political stakeholders and policy makers and spoke to members of the Health and Social Care Committee, which examines government policy, spending and administration on behalf of the electorate and the House of Commons.  

While the Conservatives are still developing a health policy, we were able to hear directly from Stuart Andrew MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, as keynote speaker at a health charity reception and were delighted to hear his pledge to listen and work with the charity sector about our causes. We look forward to speaking with him in future to advocate for a better future for the allergic community.  

Overall, the Labour conference marked a promising step towards realising our policy calls and, with the Conservative party reassessing their health mission priorities, we came away from both conferences with renewed optimism. More work remains to be done, and we remain dedicated to advocating for long-overdue changes for the allergic community. Allergy UK is committed to ensuring our asks are recognised by political stakeholders across political lines, to realise a happier and healthier future for those living with allergic disease.