Contributions
1,183 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD“Get Britain Working” White PaperIt is good to hear Front-Benchers being so positive about their White Paper, much of which we are pretty familiar with. Let us look through some of the measures. The integration…16 Dec 2024HANSARDReducing ReoffendingI declare an interest as the founder and chairman of a prison rehabilitation charity. The Minister has helpfully set out what the Government are doing about reducing reoffending,…10 Dec 2024HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal Arrangements) BillThe hon. and learned Member might not have supported the Good Friday agreement but does he not acknowledge that the agreement recognised the sovereignty of the United Kingdom in…06 Dec 2024HANSARDFarming and Inheritance TaxI fully recognise how much the hon. Lady wants to serve her new constituents, and I hope she is right. Does she recognise how difficult it will be for farmers in her constituency,…04 Dec 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI will in a moment. These medics I met in Canada are specialists in assisted death and personally kill hundreds of patients a year in their special clinics. [ Interruption. ] If…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI will get to the end of my speech. That is the medical stage, and I will jump straight to the judicial stage. The medical practitioners sign it off, and then the judge has to…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI will make a little progress. The second question that medical practitioners have to answer is about mental capacity, and here again is a great vagueness. How do they judge if…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI think particularly of disabled people, many of whom require constant treatment to stay alive. All, immediately and by definition, will be eligible under the terms of the Bill…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI am not going to give way again. There are a great many of these cases, I am afraid, and I mention them to show how wide open the Bill is. [Interruption.]29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI am grateful to my right hon. Friend. I will now run through the process before taking any more interventions. As I have explained, pretty much anybody with a serious illness or…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI am sure that the hon. Member for Spen Valley is delighted to have the support of the hon. Gentleman. I refer him to the point that I was making: this is an inappropriate process.29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI am perplexed by that argument. The suggestion that there may be coercion—of course there will be—and abuse, and all sorts of injustices that take place in the current system,…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI am grateful to the hon. Lady, especially for promoting me to the status of doctor; I am actually a charity worker and political hack by background. It is good of her to credit…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillThe hon. Lady makes a very important point. I will not get into the question of public opinion and the polling, because it is so contested, but there is clear evidence that the…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillMy hon. Friend makes the right point, and I am afraid to say that is absolutely the case. The six-month cut-off is completely arbitrary and impossible to determine. It is a line…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI am grateful for that intervention. The assessments have to determine whether the patient is terminally ill, whether they have mental capacity to make the decision, and then…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI do not have time to check the Bill now, but from my memory it refers to someone who has known the patient for two years or someone of good standing in the community, which could…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI am sorry if offence is given, but the fact is that the value of having a Bill in black and white is seeing what the law really is. What the Bill would do is amend the Suicide…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillWhat the Bill actually says is that a doctor means “a registered medical practitioner…who has such training, qualifications and experience as the Secretary of State may specify by…29 Nov 2024HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillI will give way to the other hon. Gentleman.29 Nov 2024