Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Jopling Excerpts

Friday 19th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jopling (Con)]

My Lords, I have not changed my opposition to the concept of assisted dying since the previous debates in your Lordships’ House in 2015 and 2021. My views, which are not influenced by religious teaching, are based on my opposition—like the noble Lord, Lord Deben—to the passing of laws that permit the taking of life. That is why, in 1964, I supported the Silverman Private Members’ Bill to abolish capital punishment, much to the irritation of some of my then constituents.

In particular, I am concerned about two dangers in these proposals. We have heard already about the effects of the Bill in encouraging greedy families. As an example, I quote my own mother, who was widowed at 58 and, during temporary bouts of illness and depression, on many occasions told us that she wished she could die. Of course, we jollied her along and, in the event, she lived until she was 96, having led an interesting life and having seen a good deal of the world during those years. I know that, during those depressed moments, we could perfectly well have agreed with her and told her that we would try to arrange assisted dying if it had been then available.

My second concern is about the issue of doctors for hire—people who strongly support assisted dying, build a reputation for sanctioning it and become what I can only describe as a soft touch. In the torrent of information we have had about this Bill, I noticed the example of the Canadian situation, where 4% of medical-aid-in-dying practitioners provide these services more than 30 times a year. That is the sort of danger I am concerned about when I talk about doctors for hire.

On two previous occasions when we have discussed this Bill, I have put down amendments to restrict the number of times a doctor can sign the certificate. If this Bill is given a Second Reading, which I am sure will happen, I intend to put down an amendment to suggest that no doctor should sign a certificate more than twice in four years. That is a limitation which is open to discussion as to the frequency with which a doctor might be restricted to signing the certificates. We could discuss this between Committee and Report.

Finally, I remind the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, that when I made this proposal in 2015, he told me:

“I am very happy to discuss with the noble Lord the idea of there being some limit”.


He went on to say:

“However, I am completely engaged on how one seeks to deal with the issue of doctors for hire”.—[Official Report, 16/1/15; col. 1060.]


I hope that this would be a helpful amendment to this Bill in preventing doctors from setting up this type of reputation, which I think would be a mistake.