Contributions
956 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twelfth sitting)Does the hon. Lady agree that the purpose of this amendment is to ensure the Bill delivers for the people for whom it is intended, such as the person the hon. Member for Spen…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Does the hon. Lady agree that it really does not matter what happens in other jurisdictions? The question is, does this legislation prevent people who are currently suffering from…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I rise briefly to speak against amendment 234 in the name of my good and hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough. I will keep it brief as I know he is not going to…25 Feb 2025HANSARDTopical QuestionsDomestic abuse services in my area are telling me there is a specific shortage of places in shelters for men, which is a particular problem for women fleeing domestic abuse with…24 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)Further to the point made by the hon. Member for Bradford West, is it not a further complication that if a question is put in Committee and considered settled, it cannot be…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech. She referred to an article she read yesterday about domestic violence in relation to the Bill; it may have been the article by Sarah…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)Does the right hon. Gentleman not accept that “burden” here encompasses many different types of burden. One that weighs heavily on many of my constituents is financial burden—in…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I want to pick up on the right hon. Gentleman’s point about wanting patients to be able to have a free and frank conversation with their doctors. In a hypothetical scenario,…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)Does the hon. Lady agree on the value of her amendment, and the value of introducing the word “encouraged” into the Bill? Reflecting on what has been said about the “fine line”…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Tenth sitting)The hon. Members for Sunderland Central and for Penistone and Stocksbridge said of existing concepts in law, “This is how they have always been used.” It was reminiscent of the…12 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)The hon. Gentleman puts his finger on the exact point: it allows people to make a decision about whether or not they want to continue treatment; it has not been used in this way…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)I am conscious that the hon. Member for Ipswich sought to intervene before me, but may I press the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley slightly on his point? When I asked…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)The hon. Lady talks about the four tests and parts of the Mental Capacity Act; the point I was making was that we want to retain elements of the Act, although using it in its…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)I say to that what I have been saying throughout: a test of mental capacity is not sufficient for this Bill. For example, the Royal College of Psychiatrists states that the Mental…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)On that note, I will probably not respond to the hon. Gentleman’s comments about coercion, but I will pick up on what the hon. Member for Stroud said about using the Mental…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)The hon. Member is absolutely right. That would be another weakness of the Mental Capacity Act being used in this context: if someone is judged to have capacity, they are free to…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)Yes, that is exactly what I am aiming to do. The hon. Member makes an excellent point. There is a wide variety of views on this, but in actual fact, much as I do not wish to…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)That is an extremely wise observation. I regret enormously that there was not more opportunity, before the legislation was drafted, to have those discussions between experts,…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)I heard Sir Chris Whitty in particular say that it would be preferable to have a more straightforward Bill that did not have too many bureaucratic hurdles for people to overcome.…11 Feb 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eighth sitting)That is a very interesting intervention. I cannot comment on that because I have no knowledge of how the Mental Capacity Act was drafted or the evidence that was taken.11 Feb 2025