Two registered pharmacists will take their place in the House of Commons as part of a Labour landslide as the UK electorate dispensed with the Conservative Party after 14 years of governance in the general election held yesterday (July 4).

The superintendent pharmacist of PillTime Sadik Al-Hassan scored one of the historic upsets of the night as he ousted the tory grandee Sir Liam Fox, who had represented North Somerset for more than 30 years.

The pharmacist with a fondness for taking photos with four-legged friends (although not foxes) told C+D last month in an exclusive interview that he would “fight for every vote”.

Read more: General election: The pharmacist vs the Tory GP grandee

And he did just that, winning his seat with a 639 vote majority, as Sir Liam’s share of the votes dropped by 19 percentage points compared with 2019, according to the BBC’s election results.

Al-Hassan said that he was “truly honoured to be elected as the first Labour Member of Parliament for North Somerset” on X (formerly Twitter) in a race that pitched a community pharmacist against a GP.

Previous chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) Taiwo Owatemi retained her seat in Coventry North West with an increased share of the vote.

Read more: Pharmacist and Labour MP Taiwo Owatemi appointed APPG chair

The Labour pharmacist whose register of interests includes working a locum shift at a Tesco pharmacy in 2021 secured 19,696 votes, more than 11,000 votes more than the second-placed Tory candidate.

But chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) Dr Leyla Hannbeck was unable to break through the blue, red or Reform teal in Broadland and Fakenham.

The Liberal Democrat candidate in the Norfolk constituency finished fourth with 5,526 votes in a seat won by Conservative Jerome Mayhew with 16,322 votes, just 700 ahead of the Labour candidate.

Read more: AIMp CEO Dr Leyla Hannbeck to stand as MP in next general election

In her role as IPA chief executive, Hannbeck congratulated and "applauded" the elected parliamentarians, saying the organisation “looks forward to working with” them. 

She implored MPs to "urgently" deal with the funding crisis in community pharmacy with a deficit that she said was "now likely to be in the billions". 

Hannbeck said that the IPA's lobbying strategy would be focused on trying to convince MPs to "save taxpayers’ investment and add efficiencies to the system" by supporting pharmacies as "pillars of their communities".

 

How have other sector leaders reacted?

 

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said that it had been “working for over a year to build positive relationships with the Labour Party health team”.

But CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said that it would be “some weeks” before the new Labour government would be “ready to commence formal negotiations” with CPE.

She added that the negotiator would be "providing resources and guidance" to local pharmaceutical committees (LPCs) and pharmacy contractors to help them communicate with local MPs.

Read more: Wes Streeting: 'Sunak says he wants to put pharmacies first, but he's left the sector to rot'

CPE said it would "urgently" try to build on the number of MPs who are "sympathetic to the need for investment and support for pharmacies", while noting that "a number" of pro-pharmacy MPs were returned to parliament.

Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison said that the membership body is looking forward to working with the new health ministers to “secure the best outcomes for patients and best value for taxpayers”.

Harrison described Labour’s position on health as “a compelling vision for primary care reform” as he called for “additional funding to halt the worrying trend of closures and to ensure patient access to medicines is maintained”.

NPA chief executive Paul Rees said that the membership body is “excited to work with the new government to show how a properly funded pharmacy network can cut GP and hospital waiting times and dramatically improve the nation’s health”. 

Read more: Political Pills: What awaits the new pharmacy minister?

He pointed to likely new health secretary Wes Streeting’s exclusive comment piece in C+D pledging to “reverse [the] shocking trend” of pharmacy closures, adding that “now he has to deliver". 

Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) president Professor Claire Anderson said that having two pharmacists in parliament is “fantastic”.

Anderson said that the new Labour government “must turn its attention to enhancing patient care in a health service under continued pressure”.

“Pharmacists will be central to reducing health inequalities, managing the growing cost of long-term conditions, and delivering best value from medicines for patients and the NHS,” she said as she called for “sustainable funding”.

Read more: Xrayser: We’re at risk of not spending £645m investment

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) extended its congratulations to Al-Hassan and Owatemi on X, saying it was “pleased to see pharmacists in parliament”.

Numark chair Harry McQuillan said that Labour’s pledge for a community pharmacist prescribing service “needs further exploration as the rights are already there” with the introduction of independent prescribing. 

McQuillan added that “a fully costed service” is needed to take advantage of pharmacists’ prescribing skills.

But he said that the new government “could present a unique opportunity for community pharmacy”.

 

How did C+D’s polls compare?

 

C+D’s community pharmacy election tracker poll ran for six weeks and showed that the sector had cooled towards the Conservatives, as it averaged just 12% support from our readers.

In the last poll, held this week, Labour had the support of 36% of C+D voters, while “other” parties were chosen by a huge 33% of respondents.

How did our small snap polls map to the real results? Of course, the nature of a first-past-the-post system does not apportion seats according to the total share of the vote. 

Read more: It's Election Day - so what's coming next for pharmacy and politics?

At the time of writing, the BBC has announced that overall:

• Labour won 412 seats (64% of all seats), with 9.7 million votes and a 33.7% share of all votes
• The Conservatives’ 121 seats were won with 6.8m votes and a 23.7% share of the vote
• The Lib Dems secured 71 seats with 3.5m votes, a 12.2% vote share
• Reform’s four seats came alongside 4.1m votes, or 14.3% of the vote
• The Greens won four seats from 1.9m votes, 6.8% of the vote

C+D published an exclusive opinion piece from Rishi Sunak on June 18, in which the Prime Minister claimed that “Labour has no plan” for community pharmacy. 

But in a rebuttal on June 28, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said that Sunak had “left the sector to rot” as he outlined a proposal to increase pharmacy’s role in primary care.

Read more: C+D election tracker: Is a Labour landslide on the cards for 2024?

As well as a new health secretary, we will have a new minister in charge of the sector. Former pharmacy minister and health committee chair Steve Brine mapped out what the person in the hot seat could expect to face in the first weeks on the job. 

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