Contributions
956 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)Let me just reply to the hon. Member’s original point. It is so important—and this is why we need the amendment in the Bill—that if there is any doubt at all that someone is…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)We need to consider the possibility that somebody is suffering from a terminal illness as a comorbidity with an eating disorder; they may be suffering from an eating disorder…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)The hon. Member is absolutely right. The Court of Protection has described eating disorders using language typically reserved for terminal illnesses. It has described an eating…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)I am grateful for that intervention and, dare I say it, for the one from the right hon. Gentleman. That is the whole point about eating disorders: there is a very fine line to be…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)I believe I repeated several times in my speech that this is not about capacity; it is about mental illness.05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)Does the hon. Gentleman assert that it is therefore impossible for anybody with a mental illness that might affect their ability to make a decision about an assisted death to be…05 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Nineteeth sitting)Will the hon. Gentleman address the point that the requirement to refer for specialist psychiatric support is a requirement in similar legislation in other parts of the world—in…05 Mar 2025HANSARDHong Kong Democracy ActivistsIt is a privilege to represent a substantial community of Hongkongers in Richmond Park. I notice from Hansard that I was last here two months ago to ask the Government about…04 Mar 2025HANSARDIranian State ThreatsIt has been a privilege and an honour to engage with my many Iranian constituents over the years, but I am always filled with horror when they tell me stories not only of what is…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Seventeenth sitting)I beg to move amendment 271, in clause 5, page 3, line 5, at end insert— “(1A) A person may not sign a first declaration within six months of being diagnosed with a condition…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Seventeenth sitting)Would the hon. Gentleman not accept that a terminal illness in itself is a risk factor for an increased risk of suicide, and also that that risk is increased in the first six…04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Seventeenth sitting)For clarity, if the amendment specified a psychosocial assessment, would the hon. Gentleman be minded to support it?04 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Seventeenth sitting)I will not take up a huge amount of time, because a lot of what I wanted to say has been said in previous sittings, but I return to the issue of people who may request an assisted…04 Mar 2025HANSARDFinance BillI will speak in favour of new clause 4, tabled in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper). The amendment would require the Government to carry out an…03 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)At risk of repeating something said in a previous sitting, does the hon. Gentleman accept that the amendment is not trying to amend the Mental Capacity Act itself, and it is not…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I apologise for arriving late; thank you for calling me to speak anyway, Mr Dowd. I rise to speak in favour of amendment 50, which stands in the name of the hon. Member for…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)What I would say in reply to the first part of the hon. Member’s intervention is that there are plenty of opportunities for the person to change their mind—although I might…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I want to pick up on a point that the hon. Member made before the previous intervention about the rights of the doctors themselves. This is an important point that we do not…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I wish to speak briefly to amendment 270, in the name of the right hon. Member for South West Wiltshire, to which I have put my name. It is about the really important issue of…26 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Fifteenth sitting)That is absolutely right. I think it becomes quite challenging for medical professionals when they are presented with a patient who expresses a wish to die: is this a suicidal…26 Feb 2025