Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Luke Taylor Excerpts

Friday 20th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Taylor (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)]

It is an honour to speak in this important debate on an issue that exemplifies why I chose to get into politics and come to this place: to be part of big decisions, taken in tune with public opinion, listening to evidence, and with the goal of making our residents better off. I have no doubt that all right hon. and hon. Members here today intend to make their residents better off, but in this case, tragically, better off means suffering less and giving them agency in the most painful moment of their lives.

This Bill addresses a situation where the status quo is utterly unacceptable. I hope that we can all agree in this place that we have heard heartbreaking stories from the families of those who have watched a loved one die in pain or of the fear of someone with a terminal diagnosis facing the prospect of an agonising death. The choice we have with this legislation is whether we choose to do something about that status quo or not. Rejecting this Bill, imperfect as it may be, will continue the pain of those who are let down by the current laws. They are guaranteed victims of a system that is letting them down.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Luke Taylor]

I will make some progress, thank you. I start by making the somewhat unusual case that this issue, for which we are gathered here on a Friday, giving up bake sales and constituency surgeries, is not quite the big deal it has been whipped up to be by both proponents and opponents. I do not believe that we are considering a fundamental change in the relationship between doctor and patient, or seeking to change the relationship between the state and the individual. I do not believe that we are stepping on to a slippery slope or unpicking the very purpose of the NHS, as some have suggested. We are here simply to give those who already face terrible decisions—doctors, patients and their families—a real choice of how to face those decisions, and protection in law for choices that are already being made today.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Luke Taylor]

I will make some further progress.

This Bill would simply give the choice to those who will die—and those eligible will die soon—on the manner and timing of their death, and it would protect doctors and families from legal repercussions at such a tragic time. This is not a Bill about the choice between life and death; it is about the choice, should we want it, of how and when we will die. This is the ultimate choice. We speak sometimes of the right to choose, of the right to decide how one might bring life into this world, a debate about which on Tuesday this Chamber showed that there is a huge majority in favour of the right of the individual. We have a chance to neatly bookend the week by establishing the existential right of the individual, when given a terminal diagnosis, to choose how one might exit this earthly realm.

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Luke Taylor]

I will make some progress.

Today, due to the extraordinary courage of the hon. Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater), who has given us a once-in-a-generation opportunity for this place to catch up with public opinion, I truly believe that we can take one more step forward towards regaining public trust and confidence in the system. When public polling shows overwhelmingly time and again that the public back the change—between 70% and 75% in the latest polls released—I implore those on the fence to at least listen to public opinion, if not my words.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Luke Taylor]

I will continue.

Nothing I say, however, is intended to simplify the issue, and I acknowledge the fears of many that the palliative care sector is not funded sufficiently for there to be a rational and viable choice between managed care at the end of life and the choice to end one’ own life. I therefore welcome the inclusion of amendment 21, which matches my priority of the improvement of palliative care.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Ahem.

[Luke Taylor]

In conclusion, in the heart-wrenching words of Decca Aitkenhead, who wrote in The Times last week, and which I found particularly moving:

“critics of the bill have begun to frame the debate as if leaving the law as it stands does not hurt anyone. It does.”

She said that opponents

“worry about speculative, hypothetical victims—but the status quo creates indisputable, real life victims”.

[Pippa Heylings]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Luke Taylor]

I will not, sorry—I am close to closing.

She went on to say:

“The bill’s opponents portray it as cruel, heartless and macabre. I wish they could have sat at”

—her friend—

“Charlotte’s bedside, heard her groan, “Let … me … die”, and seen what cruel, heartless and macabre actually looks like.”

This Bill is the right thing to do. It has been scrutinised, amended and debated. This Bill is ready. Please vote in favour today to give our residents a choice.