The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said he backs the use of medicinal cannabis oil and called for a swift legal review after an emergency licence was provided to Billy Caldwell, a boy with severe epilepsy whose medication had been confiscated. In response to Hunt’s remarks, Labour announced it would legalise cannabis oil for medical purposes if it was in government. Billy was discharged from hospital on Monday after being admitted in a “life-threatening” condition on Friday. Labour’s announcement follows calls from a growing coalition of cross-partisan MPs, experts, campaigners and families whose children also have severe epilepsy, for an urgent change to the law.