Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Paula Barker Excerpts

Friday 20th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Paula Barker (Liverpool Wavertree) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Dame Chi Onwurah]

No, I will not take any interventions, thank you.

I particularly fear the impact on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged—those without the social capital of so many arguing for the Bill. There seems to be an assumption that those who have been most unequal in life will suddenly be rendered equal in death, but the least valued by society are often those who value themselves the least. We know that the last year of life is so often the most expensive for the NHS and the most distressing for friends and family; why not save everyone the trouble of being a burden? This Bill lacks the safeguards, which we must have, to deal with the reality that there are powerful economic and personal incentives for both the state and family members to encourage the vulnerable into taking their own lives.

We should specifically consider the impact on ethnic communities: we know the prism of racist assumptions through which healthcare has too often been administered —the huge inequalities in maternal health and mental health, to name just two examples. There is nothing in this Bill to protect the vulnerable and those whose experience of life and death has already been biased.

Finally, to vote against this Bill is not to accept the status quo. It is not our job now to propose a better Bill—that was on Report and at Committee stage—it is our job to judge the Bill as it is, and that is why I say to hon. Members, please, do not vote for this Bill.

--- Later in debate ---

[Paula Barker (Liverpool Wavertree) (Lab)]

I am proud to support my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) as a co-sponsor of this Bill. Through her leadership, compassion and dignity, she has been a beacon of hope for so many. I thank the many hundreds of constituents who have written to me or had face-to-face appointments with me to discuss this complex and emotive issue.

There are strongly held beliefs on both sides of the debate both inside and outside the House. I absolutely respect those with views different from mine, and hope that they will respect my views. After all, it is possible for all of us in this place to disagree well. People on both sides of the debate have accepted that we can and must do better for dying people and their loved ones—that has been clear throughout this debate. Too many of us have witnessed the devastation caused when we are denied choice at the end of life. Until the law changes, dying people in Britain will continue to suffer unbearably in their final weeks and days, with many trying to scrape together the funds for an assisted death abroad or taking their own lives behind closed doors. I urge right hon. and hon. Members to keep such experiences in the front of their minds when they go through the Lobby later.

At the heart of it, this Bill is about choice: those who wish to exercise their choice can do so, and those who do not wish to do so simply do not have to. The Bill introduces practical measures to assess eligibility, guard against coercion, and ensure rigorous medical oversight and robust monitoring of the process. Dying people have none of those protections under the current law. The status quo is failing people each and every day.

I pay tribute to colleagues from across the House who served on the Public Bill Committee, regardless of what side of the debate they were on. They strengthened the Bill by accepting key amendments, including the establishment of a judge-led multidisciplinary panel to oversee every application, with oversight from psychiatrists, social workers and lawyers; the requirement that assisted dying can only be discussed with patients in the context of all their end-of-life care and treatment options; mandatory training for doctors and panel members on detecting coercion; and the creation of a disability programme board. The Bill requires that patients be informed about all care options to ensure that everyone has access to the best possible pain relief, emotional support and hospice care. This will ensure that choosing an assisted death is never a result of ignorance or lack of care

I am pleased that the Bill has brought about a long-overdue discussion about palliative care. If we are honest, very few people in this place and outside were shouting about it from the rooftops beforehand. I sincerely hope that after the passage of this Bill, we will continue to discuss how we can improve palliative care, because it should not be an either/or. By having robust palliative care and the option of assisted dying, we will truly have options that will meet individual needs and the values of each patient.

Finally, the momentum for law change is spreading across the British Isles and beyond. Last month, MSPs voted by a clear majority to pass Liam McArthur’s assisted dying Bill. The Isle of Man’s Bill is awaiting Royal Assent, and will potentially be available for terminally ill residents from 2027. The direction of travel is to give dying people true choice at the end of life. We cannot leave dying people in England and Wales behind.

[Several hon. Members rose—]