Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Archbishop of York Excerpts

Friday 27th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

First, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, for her speech, rather than a question clarifying something. Secondly, as I have said, the figure of £37 million has been provided in the impact assessment for the 10th year. I note the points that the noble Baroness has made. Maybe the right course for her is to send a detailed letter raising the questions with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice, because it is their assessment—and I do not dissent from it.

[The Archbishop of York]

I entirely accept that those who are proposing the Bill do not propose it for the reason of trying to save money. I also entirely accept the desire from everyone in this House for better-funded palliative care. However, I need something to be explained. Taken that palliative care is inadequate and underfunded, and taken that there are huge regional variations, what I do not understand is the noble and learned Lord’s confidence that this will not lead to coercion of vulnerable people in places where palliative care is not available and cannot be afforded, which will lead to unintended consequences. I entirely accept that he does not want those consequences either, but I ask him to give me some confidence, if he can, that this will not follow.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

I will try to give the most reverend Primate confidence. First, decisions about treatment at the moment frequently have to be made in the context of what everybody in this Committee would think was inadequate palliative care. There is scope for coercion there with no safeguards. Secondly, people have the ability to go abroad to get an assisted death, and there is scope for coercion there. In both those situations, there are no safeguards whatever. The landscape in which those choices are made, whether about continuing other treatment or about going to Switzerland, has absolutely no protections whatever. This Bill provides five levels of protection. I am completely satisfied that this is a safer system than the current law, and I very much hope that gives the most reverend Primate confidence that the Bill is the right thing to do.

On the funding of palliative care, I very much hope that the Government and other people will provide more money for palliative care. The experience in many countries is that the introduction of an assisted dying Bill leads to an increase in the amount of palliative care, because people debate and think about how you die. I hope those things put the most reverend Primate’s mind at rest. The risk for coercion is already there, and this provides safeguards. I hope the introduction of the Bill will produce more money for palliative care, but unfortunately I cannot give the most reverend Primate any guarantees of that.