Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Harper Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 19th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harper (Con)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness. At the end of her speech, it was very clear that she should have had no concerns about the contribution she would make to the debate—it was a very powerful speech.

We are all the product of our experiences. One of the most profound and shaping that I had in public life was being shadow Minister and then Minister for disabled people. The reason for that was the opportunity I had over the four years or so in those two roles to meet people of all ages who had thrown in front of them, sometimes over the whole of their life and sometimes as a result of circumstances, challenges and difficulties that they faced doing the things that we all take for granted: living an independent life, working, bringing up a family, contributing to society and making the best of what they had in front of them. Many of those people are profoundly concerned by what the Bill will do to society’s view of people who have challenges thrown in front of them.

I know that is not the intention of the promoters of the Bill, but it does say something fundamental about society’s view of life, particularly life lived by people who have profound challenges. That is why the Bill is not supported by a single organisation in this country that represents disabled people—not a single one—and we should listen to their views and take them very seriously.

The second very powerful argument we have heard in this debate, referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, is the one about choice and autonomy. The reason why that argument fails in this case is that you are taking a decision that impacts only upon yourself and has no consequences for others. The problem is that in delivering rights and choices for those who will be the beneficiaries—if that is the right word—of the Bill, you are effectively taking away choices and opportunities from others. There are competing rights, and when we have competing rights, we always have the most difficult decisions to make, and they are always the most charged political conversations we have.

The second reason why that argument fails is that, for choice to mean anything, it has to be a meaningful choice, and we do not have that in this country. We have some excellent palliative care, but it is not universally available to everybody; and in the Government’s 10-year plan for the NHS, there is no plan and no ambition to make it so, not even at the end of that 10-year period. I am afraid that a choice for assisted suicide without access to good quality palliative care is no choice at all.

My final point is about being clear about what we are doing here. As the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, said, and my noble friend Lady May of Maidenhead said last week, this is about assisted suicide. We are amending the Suicide Act to provide a defence for people taking their life. If the promoters of the Bill and those who support it find plain and clear language uncomfortable, rather than attacking those that use that plain and clear language, as they have done with my noble friend Lady May, they should perhaps reflect upon what it is they wish to do.