Contributions
739 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)The hon. Member makes a valid point that it would ultimately benefit others. It would—that is a given—but that was not my reading of the way the amendment is drafted. My reading…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I am happy to debate, Mrs Harris, but I am trying to understand because this is new to me. If I speak to the amendment and the Minister already has a position, I would value…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)Okay, I am happy to turn back to the amendment. This issue is far too serious for us to overlook. I do not believe that many people, including medical professionals, are properly…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)That speaks to my earlier point, where I was seeking clarification. I find that I feel very uncomfortable with this process, where the Government are very clearly taking a…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I want to understand the Minister’s point about multiple words. We have the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, referring to both coercion and pressure, and undue…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)The hon. Lady has made some important points. I repeat something I said yesterday in response to another Member: the word “coercion” and the idea of encouragement were not even in…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)It is very much in support of that, and I want to tease out what my hon. Friend just said, which is important. One conversation we are having is about being a burden—my hon.…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I thank the Minister greatly for his explanation. I am trying to separate the two points. I appreciate the role of both Ministers in providing the Committee with that guidance, as…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)May I take the hon. Member back to the point of clause 24, and the issue of suicide and the terminology there? Perhaps the Minister could respond as well, although I am not sure…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)I have a concern about what the Minister says. As one psychiatrist put it, the Bill is very novel and untested. The MCA has not been tested. Now the Government say that this will…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)The hon. Member makes a valid point: it could be an absolutely autonomous decision. In an ideal world, that is what we would like to get to, but we are not in an ideal world.12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)Does the hon. Lady share my concern? My understanding is that, in normal parliamentary business, if the Government announce any changes to the law in the press first, they are…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)The hon. Member makes valid point. Maybe the Government would be able to mop this up if this amendment was accepted. That can happen—it is not beyond the scope of Government or…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)I thank my hon. Friend, but I feel that the point is being missed. It is true that there is no framework, but for somebody to get to this point in the first instance they need to…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Lady. Just to put it out there, to begin with on amendment 23, the Court of Appeal, in the case of “Re T (Adult: Refusal of Medical…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)My hon. Friend makes a very important point—because if we visit this issue afterwards, that person is dead.12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. That is not something I had spoken to the right hon. Member for Braintree about. Thinking about it, his point is valid: there is…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)I would like to hope that that would never happen; I have a huge love of the NHS and of the people I know in it who make decisions every day, particularly given all the cuts—even…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for her powerful intervention. She is right: that was the article I mentioned. Reading about such stories does have a profound impact.12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)My hon. Friend is right, but the point I am trying to come back to is to do with those people who feel a burden; wherever they feel a burden, somebody is benefiting from that,…12 Feb 2025