Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Paul Kohler

Friday 13th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paul Kohler (Wimbledon) (LD)]

Let me begin by laying my cards on the table. I am, of course, a liberal and have always supported the right of individuals to choose freely when they want to end their life. I have no religious or philosophical objection to assisted dying, and when the debate on the Bill began, I assumed I would vote in favour of it. However, as the debate in this Chamber on Second Reading progressed, and in particular as a result of the compelling speeches by the hon. Members for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) and for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy), and in particular from the Mother of the House, the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), I came to the reluctant decision that the state of palliative care in this country and the safeguards against coercion in all its forms were not sufficient to vote in favour of the Bill. Despite the changes in Committee, my mind has not changed. I will again be voting against the Bill.

However, let me be equally clear that amendments 103 and 104, in my name and to which I will now speak, are not wrecking amendments, but critical to ensuring proper parliamentary scrutiny if the Bill becomes law.

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

The issue of palliative care has been raised across the House. We have been repeatedly told that this is not an either/or choice, but does the hon. Member agree that without world-class palliative care, that will force some patients down the assisted dying route, where otherwise they would have chosen better care?