GwL families attend fourth Labour Conference in a row
Last week, Gambling with Lives families and staff attended the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool for the fourth year running, calling for urgent government action to ensure every gambling-related death is properly investigated.
Over 25 MPs visited our stand – including Baroness Twycross, the Gambling Minister, as well as the Chair of the Labour Party and the Vice-Chair of the APPG on Male Suicide Prevention. As ever, we were also visited by numerous local councillors, constituency delegates, members, and representatives of many other excellent organisations. Several of the GwL families made the journey, some for the first time, others as seasoned Conference attendees.
This year, at the heart of our stand design (see below) were photographs of many family members lost to gambling suicide. Their presence was incredibly powerful and drew so many people to come and talk to us to find out more. They were a powerful reminder of why change is needed.
Our core ask was the urgent need for thorough investigations into all gambling deaths. Currently, many coroners do not know that the role of gambling can, and should, be investigated. Many bereaved families have experienced inquests where gambling is not considered at all, even when its role has been highlighted by the family. This means vital opportunities to learn lessons are lost, regulation is not properly informed, and there is no justice for the hundreds of people who die because of gambling each year.
On Monday, our fringe event Stopping Gambling Suicides was chaired by Gambling with Lives co-founder Charles Ritchie, and featured Abtisam Mohamed MP, Deborah Coles (Executive Director at INQUEST), Ben Coleman MP, and Dr Beccy Cooper MP.
All three MPs – part of the 2024 intake – are the constituency MPs of GwL families and spoke passionately and with real insight about the importance of keeping gambling firmly on the radar within Parliament and at the forefront of the agenda of government departments. Deborah highlighted the significant role that inquests and investigations play in preventing future deaths.
There was clear agreement that gambling must be treated as a public health issue, with responsibility for oversight transferred from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the Department of Health and Social Care, where the focus will rightly be on prevention of harm and provision of treatment, rather than considering gambling as an area for economic growth.
We are deeply grateful to the hundreds of people who stopped to speak with us, to our brilliant panellists, and above all, to the Gambling with Lives family members who gave their time, energy, and voices at Conference. Their voices are the reason people listen, learn, and leave determined to act.