Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Baroness Mattinson Excerpts

Friday 24th April 2026 Lords Chamber

Ten noble Lords have accounted for 26% of the time on this Bill. Most of them have spoken for more than two hours, well beyond the four and a half minutes. I promise I will speak for no more than five. I am embarrassed by our role, not because people hold very different views—it is important that they do—but because we have failed, as my noble friend Lord Lansley said, to bring it to a vote either in principle or in detail. We have unfinished business. People across the country, whatever their view, think that we have not done our job. It is too right that polling shows that the public want a safe assisted dying Bill and for the House of Lords to do its job. We have not.

[Baroness Mattinson (Lab)]

My Lords, it is important that we, as an unelected Chamber, focus on what the public think. Over the last few months, we have heard opponents of the Bill suggest that it lacks public support; I want to correct the record on that. The most recent British Social Attitudes survey—which is, by the way, the highly-regarded bible that tracks longitudinal public attitudes—was published in March, and it shows that an overwhelming eight out of 10 of us support changing the law to enable assisted dying. This powerful evidence is consistent across respected public polling and across age, gender, region and political attitudes. It is also consistent among those with disabilities, those who profess a religion and those who work in the medical professions.

Data modelling by the polling organisation More in Common reveals that support far outweighs opposition in every constituency in Britain. But do not take my word for this. Polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice observed recently that the picture of public support for assisted dying was

“one of remarkable stability and near consensus in public attitudes”,

while another senior and highly respected pollster, Peter Kellner, says:

“Having reported, commissioned and conducted polls for more than half a century, I cannot think of another major social controversy where the public mood has been so settled and so emphatic”.


Both pollsters, in my experience, place the very highest value on presenting an objective and truthful representation of people’s views. Those views are not just widespread and consistently held in favour of assisted dying; they are also heartfelt. They are not theoretical but drawn from painful personal experience, and many of those stories—

[Baroness O’Loan (CB)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Mattinson (Lab)]

I am speaking very briefly so, if the noble Baroness does not mind, I will continue. Many of those stories have been told very movingly here today.

The point is that 52% of us have cared for or witnessed a family member who was terminally ill and suffering at the end of their life. Unsurprisingly, experience of this rises with age, up to 66% in the 50 to 64 year-old age group, and higher as you get beyond that. Research—for example, England’s first ever citizens’ jury, so more qualitative and deliberative research—tells us that support for law change grows the more that people understand the issue and hear about it.

Meanwhile, the backdrop to this debate is that trust in our democracy has never been lower. Too often, the public do not feel listened to. Confidence in this unelected Chamber is at its lowest ever: a desultory one in five has confidence in the House of Lords to do its job. At the end of last year, YouGov found that just 2% had a lot of confidence in the House of Lords and only 17% had some confidence. Some noble Lords have quoted a poll that suggests that the public would like to see us doing better scrutiny. Yes, in abstract, they absolutely would, but, with reference to this particular Bill, a YouGov poll recently found that 58% disagreed with the way the Lords has dismissed the Bill while only 17% found it acceptable. Again, public opposition rises, as you would expect, with greater experience by age, consistent with the lived experience of the impact and pain of the alternative.

As this debate draws to its close, we should all be aware that the way the Bill has been treated by this Chamber risks having profound implications for the Chamber itself and its reputation, as well as the absolute tragedy of ignoring the passionately held public view for assisted dying.

[Baroness Gerada (CB)]

My Lords—