CANCER outcomes in Britain “lag behind” those of countries with dedicated plans to tackle the burden of the disease, experts said today.

A new cancer plan should be a “key priority” for the government, academics said as they warned that without dedicated policies “more patients with cancer will undoubtedly die.”

In a new commentary piece, published in the journal Lancet Oncology, experts argue that cancer waiting lists in Britain are “still the worst they have ever been.”