Tracey Crouch unable attend Commons due to breast cancer

A former Conservative sports minister said she was “disappointingly unable to participate” in a Commons debate on breast cancer.

Tracey Crouch, who revealed in June she had breast cancer, said some MPs were unable to attend the Commons in person due to parliamentary procedures, and that it did not mean they were “shirking our duties”.

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is not a fan of a virtual Parliament, said shielding or clinically vulnerable MPs were able to “participate in many aspects of the House’s business”.

He said there was a “balance” between the needs of MPs and the needs of the “House of a whole”.