Cancer Cards Unacceptable - Oakes (Exeter Liberal Democrats)

Exeter Liberal Democrats <info@exeterlibdems.org.uk>

Cancer Cards Unacceptable - Oakes

April 12, 2010 10:00 AM

Graham Oakes

Graham Oakes, Liberal Democrat PPC for Exeter has described Labour's targeting of Cancer patients as "totally unacceptable".

A row has broken out after Labour sent 250,000 personalised leaflets to people, many of them women who had suffered from Breast Cancer. Labour claim they used the MOSAIC system which identifies socio-demographic groups using post codes. The system accurately predicts the type of employment, pastimes, even which newspaper people buy in particular roads. However the system could not have enabled Labour to accurately target individuals who had been diagnosed with Cancer, only the postcode area that they lived in. If Labour wanted to get their message over to large number of Cancer sufferers using this method it is estimated they would have needed to send millions of leaflets. It appears someone may have accessed either an NHS database or one held by the Cancer charities.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable - whose first wife died after a long battle with cancer - said it would be "disreputable" if databases had been used to target the message at sufferers, and has demanded an inquiry to determine whether this had happened.

Local Lib Dem, Graham Oakes, who is a Nurse, commented:

"If it is true that Labour have targeted former Cancer sufferers and have deliberately played on their fears to try to persuade them not to vote Tory this will mark a new low point in British politics - even lower than the expenses scandal.

"If they or someone working for them have illegally accessed either NHS or a Cancer charity's database then the police must investigate and the culprit charged. This is a very serious offense.

"I would be surprised if Labour sent these out in Exeter considering Ben Bradshaw's failure to protect the gastric and oesophageal cancer services at the RD&E - despite being a Government Minister."

The Cancer leaflets are part of a large postal campaign by Labour. Other groups targeted are believed to include parents whose children attend Sure Start centres, pensioners and the owners of small businesses. It is unclear how Labour could legally access information on which individual parents access the Sure Start schemes.