On Tuesday in Parliament Nicola Richards who is the Conservative MP for West Bromwich East raised a discussion entitled HIV Action Plan Annual Update 2022-23 and she began with the comment “I beg to move, That this House has considered the HIV Action Plan annual update 2022-23. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I was pleased to be successful in my application for this debate, and I thank colleagues from across the House for attending.” A few minutes later her colleague Scott Benton who is the Conservative for Blackpool commented to her response and she then added another few words and then she added the following comment statement which is below. It included the section from Scott.

The west midlands have several high-prevalence areas outside Sandwell, including Wolverhampton, Coventry and Birmingham. That is why, for World AIDS Day last year, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street joined the calls to fund this scheme in the west midlands. The way to end this virus is to find exactly these people—those who are unaware that they are carrying the disease but who are in fact passing it on to others—so that they can get the care they need and do not increase transmission further. Opt-out testing in London, Blackpool, Brighton and Manchester has also revealed a quiet but growing crisis by identifying people who have previously been diagnosed with HIV but are not receiving the treatment they need.

During that session which can be obtained from here several other MPs took part and referred to that group of locations. The one Brighton MP who took part was Lloyd Russell-Moyle and he stated this initial comment.

The hon. Lady highlights an important study from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which found that, with a low amount of money, people can be returned to care. The problem is that sexual health and HIV services are under strain. That money needs to be ringfenced and provided by the Government so that we can spend now to save later.