Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Harper and Lord Birt

Committee stage
Friday 23rd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Birt (CB)]

I am sorry; perhaps the noble Baroness can talk to me later, as I could not take in what she said.

I am, frankly, open-minded about the NHS question and accept the strength of what the noble Lord, Lord Stevens, says. It may well be that this is an organisation that should be apart from the NHS but uses some of its services. However, I am happy to talk to others about how best to do that.

I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Harper, that the process can, and should, be designed not only to support assisted dying but to painstakingly explore the alternatives to assisted dying, and I did say this. We suggest that palliative care should be one of those services and, whatever the reasons that people have for assisted dying—there may be others beside their chronic near-death state of mind—we also propose that the organisational body should be able to help the person in other sorts of ways. We want it to be a balanced process.

[Lord Harper (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for taking my question at this stage of the debate. I listened very carefully to him when he was setting out his proposals and I welcome the fact that he said that the navigator can discuss palliative care and such issues with the person concerned. Unless I misunderstand his amendments, they do not propose to help secure those services for the person. They might set out what they are, but they do not get them, so there is an imbalance there. They will help them get the assisted suicide but not proper palliative care.

[Lord Birt (CB)]

I do not think it for us, in framing in principle amendments, to deal with that level of issue, but the noble Lord is right—that is exactly what the body should do. We are talking about highly distressed people, and it should facilitate different kinds of response and reaction to their difficulty.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Harper and Lord Birt

Committee stage
Friday 5th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Birt (CB)]

I just want to ask: does the noble Lord think that we should try to reach the 10th group of amendments in the course of today?

[Lord Harper (Con)]

I am trying to make a brief remark. I have been speaking for only one minute and 45 seconds; if I keep getting interrupted, I will not be able to sit down. I was going to make literally one more point, having listened to the debate. After all, this is supposed to be a debate where we listen to what noble Lords say and respond—

[Lord Birt (CB)]

Could the noble Lord please answer my question: should we try to reach the 10th group of amendments today?

[Lord Harper (Con)]

I want to try to make progress, which is why I was trying to keep my remarks very brief; if the noble Lord keeps interrupting me, they will necessarily take longer. All I was going to do was make one further point.

I was very struck by what the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, said about the differences in the medical prognosis for a number of conditions among younger people. I suggest to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, that as well as looking at the assessment process, he should look at the extent to which clinical advice and evidence can be brought in to see whether a terminal diagnosis for a younger person is qualitatively different; from listening to the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, that appears to be the case. That may be the appropriate way to pick up the concerns, which are widely shared. But I also accept—the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, made this point—that the law has to have some clarity to it. Like the noble Baroness, I think that having lots of different ages would be very difficult.

From listening to the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, I think that may be a way forward; I commend it to the noble and learned Lord when he undertakes his thought process for what he may bring forward on Report.