Dear Petition Supporters,

First and foremost, on behalf of every member of our science-based lobby group The FIGHT LYME NOW Campaign, I genuinely thank you all for signing, commenting and sharing our public petition.  

The meeting in the House of Lords on Monday, the 5th of December, 2022, went ahead but only one peer attended; our sponsor Liberal Democrat Lord Ben Stoneham.

Lord Stoneham listened intently to all our presentations and fully engaged our group with lots of questions.  Lord Stoneham has very kindly offered to facilitate a Lyme and chronic disease awareness event in the House of Commons in the spring of 2023.

Once I have a date for our event in the House of Commons, I will update our public petition and would appreciate you all resharing it.  The more signatures and comments we accumulate, the harder it becomes for the government to dismiss and ignore our collective voice.

Before I end, I believe it's very important for British taxpaying voters to be aware of how politicians respond when invited to such important health-related events. 

Below is a summary of the responses I received/did not receive from invitees: 

The office of the Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care), Helen Whately MP who is responsible for policy on Lyme disease, DID NOT RESPOND to any of my e-mails inviting her to our event.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay MP, DID NOT RESPOND to any of my e-mails inviting him to our event.

The office of the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, Will Quince MP who is responsible for policy on alternative medicine, gave the following response:

'Unfortunately, due to diary pressures, Minister Quince is unable to accept a meeting at this time.'

In response to the above reply, I e-mailed the office of Minister Quince several times kindly requesting he send a representative to our event but all my e-mails were ignored.

I invited the entire cross-party Health and Social Care Committee but not one member attended.

I invited the chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, Steve Brine MP, and the Committee Operations Officer gave the following responses:

'Due to a long standing engagement off the Parliamentary estate the Chair will be unable to attend.'

'The Chair is unable to send a representative on his behalf. It will be up to the individual committee members and their diaries if they are able to attend.'

The Committee Clerk also added the following:

'I’m afraid we can’t respond on behalf of the individual members of the Committee. I see you have contacted them and I’m sure they will reply if they are able to attend.

Just to clarify – the Committee is not part of the Government.  It’s made up of MPs who are not Government Ministers and it’s role is to scrutinise the Department of Health and Social Care.'

I invited numerous MPs, even ones whose constituents have chronic disease, but not one attended.

I invited numerous peers but bar our sponsor Lord Stoneham, not one attended.

Genuinely wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! 

Demetrios Loukas (Campaign Leader) with Dr. Chris Newton (Scientific Lead)

The FIGHT LYME NOW Campaign

P.S. As always, feedback/questions/comments/reactions are welcomed and appreciated.