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LABOUR MP Thangam Debbonaire has revealed that she had to turn down an invitation to speak at the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival this weekend because she is being treated for breast cancer.
Ms Debbonaire was chosen to deliver an address on behalf of the Labour Party at the annual Dorset rally on Sunday after being elected MP for Bristol West.
But she was diagnosed with the disease just six weeks after the general election and is now undergoing her first cycle of chemotherapy.
In an interview with the Star, the Tolpuddle regular said she was “very, very comfortable” with people knowing the reason why she cannot be at this year’s event.
The MP has also sent a message to be read out at Sunday’s rally.
“I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and am in the middle of my first round of chemotherapy and unfortunately this means that I am not able to make all external engagements I had hoped to at the moment,” she writes.
“Thanks to the wonderful NHS, I am sure I will be back next year to join you.”
TUC South West regional secretary Nigel Costley said that while everyone would be “disappointed” that Ms Debbonaire would be unable to attend this year’s festival, “we hope that she will get well soon and be able to join us at the festival next year.
“She will be more than welcome.”
Despite her personal battle, most of Ms Debbonaire’s message is dedicated to giving hope to working people in the week that the Tories published their “horrifying” Trade Union Bill.
“My message is clear — trade unions and the Labour Party are more important than ever, to stand up to what the Tories have planned for workers’ rights,” she adds.
“Labour and the trade unions are branches of the same tree. We grow from the same roots.
“In the coming months, the Tories will try everything to break us apart — we must never let that happen.”
Thousands will head to the village of Tolpuddle this weekend for the festival and rally in memory of the 19th-century agricultural labourers who were arrested, convicted and transported to Australia for forming a trade union.
