Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Shivani Raja and Jess Asato

2nd reading
Friday 11th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shivani Raja (Leicester East) (Con)]

As Members of this House, our fundamental obligation, above all political considerations, is to protect those who are most exposed, most vulnerable and least able to advocate for themselves. I acknowledge that colleagues from all parties view this Bill as a measure of compassion, but if compassion is to truly serve the public interest, then it must be paired with rigorous scrutiny and an examination of all consequences of the intended legislation.

I voted against this Bill on Second Reading in 2024 and on Third Reading in 2025, and I intend to do so again today. I believe that Government should assist people to live, not to die. Our focus should be on providing hope and support to all those who feel that death is the only way out of a dark situation. That is the purpose of humanity—to preserve life.

We should prioritise the improvement of palliative care and end-of-life care, as opposed to directing taxpayer money away from those services and into assisted suicide. Around 60% of the public agree that we should first fix our NHS before even considering whether to introduce assisted suicide into law. I note that during his tenure as Health Secretary, the right hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) concurred with that majority in June 2025, describing how such a measure would take time and money that is already in short supply.

In addition, our new Prime Minister has outlined his commitment to a new national care service and to implementing reforms to strengthen our existing services. I welcome the fact that this Prime Minister is acting to protect the function of our health and care networks to support our constituents in life, because ultimately the NHS should be saving lives, not taking lives. Our palliative and end-of-life care services are an essential part of our NHS and wider healthcare system.

I pay tribute to LOROS hospice, which provides free and high-quality care to terminally ill and adult patients across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It cares for around 2,500 people and plays an important role in our community in Leicester East, not only in its direct support for patients, but through its provisions to wider families and friends affected by such situations. In its evidence to the Public Bill Committee, it highlighted that there should be one specialist palliative care bed for every 12,000 people, but, with just 22 beds, it has one bed for every 55,000 people. How can I turn around to my constituents and say that they will have a choice other than assisted death against that backdrop?

[Jess Asato]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Shivani Raja]

Respectfully, I will not take interventions. Many colleagues wish to speak, and I am mindful of time—please forgive me.

I am disappointed and concerned that the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards) has reintroduced an identical Bill to the House and ignored all the issues revealed, even the ones admitted to by the noble and learned Lord Falconer in the other place. This Bill’s failure is not just a sign of how inadequate the private Member’s Bill process is for a Bill of this magnitude; it is an alarm over the lack of safeguards for vulnerable people—the very demographic that we in this House are supposed to protect and support.

The purpose of this House is to legislate well. We are here to advocate for our constituents, share our differing opinions and use our privileged positions of influence to impact the outcome of legislation, but the methods and attitude of the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood completely discount the hours of debate that took place on the assisted suicide legislation in the last Session. The amendments tabled in the other place were not unreasonable; they were legitimate safeguards to protect those in our society who are vulnerable.

Many of those amendments were from external organisations, and 26 amendments were from the Law Society. Those amendments would have ensured the safety of those with eating disorders and Down’s syndrome and increased the chance of catching abusive situations in which an individual is being pressured to end their life. There were amendments from trade unions to protect the compensation rights of families of workers suffering from occupational or industrial diseases who seek an assisted death.

The Leader of the House told MPs before summer that lessons needed to be learned about how we take the public with us and build consensus, rather than just keep ploughing on. He said that Members should consider if the PMB route is really appropriate, but it seems that his words fell on deaf ears. We stand here in the mother of Parliaments as representatives of the millions of British citizens throughout our constituencies, and we have the right to debate issues, because generations before us fought tirelessly to secure that right. The threat of the use of the Parliament Acts to drive through this legislation completely disregards safeguards for vulnerable people. It requires us not to care if no further changes are made to the Bill. I am well aware that this subject of debate is not easy or straightforward, and that it is painful for a lot of our constituents and distressing for Members across the House.

Let me come to my last point. One of my many concerns with the concept of assisted suicide relates to coercion. As we have heard in the House, coercion can come in many forms. Members across this House will know that my constituency of Leicester East has one of the highest concentrations of non-white British and multi-ethnic populations in the country, and I will say again that I am enormously proud of that, but I will not support any Bill that leaves them vulnerable to coercion.

Legal experts gave evidence to the Bill Committee during the previous Session stating that in some cultures,

“decision-making is a collective process involving family and community members.”

We cannot allow the fear and distress of people experiencing palliative care, end of life care or simply struggling with the prospect of living another day to be taken advantage of. It is dangerous that this House would consider creating legislation that would allow space for people to be encouraged and, in some instances, forced to take a decision to end their life when at their most vulnerable.

Let me conclude by reminding the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood that 59% of voters in her own constituency agree that this Bill should not be the priority of this Government. Does she sit here today to truly represent her constituents? If she does, and if she takes into account the situations of those in her constituency who are vulnerable, she will acknowledge that it would be morally void to support this Bill any further.