Petitions

Debate between Tonia Antoniazzi and Rupa Huq

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

I rise to convey the anger of the Du Cane Road Residents Association, which covers a cluster of different blocks including the very handsome Pankhurst House, which was in the Ideal Home exhibition in 1928. It was built for working women but has seen better days, and this is all because of Clarion Housing. The petition highlights repairs issues, such as a broken window that has been in that state for years, the ever-increasing and opaque service charges that nobody is really clear about, and the allocations policy. Once it was working women living there, but it now seems to be undesirables of both genders. I am all for equality, but it seems to have turned into a bit of a dumping ground.

Following is the full text of the petition:

[The petition of the residents of the constituency of Ealing Central and Acton,

Declares that numerous constituents residing in homes which are managed by the housing association Clarion including Pankhurst House and neighbouring blocks are seriously concerned with the poor level of service and delayed responses they have been provided regarding repairs, for example, a broken window for years on end; further declares that residents are unsatisfied with transparency around how service charges are calculated; further declares that residents are displeased with the allocations policy by which residents are assigned which they fear is leading to it becoming a “dumping ground” for undesirables when the original nucleus of the estate was women’s keyworker accommodation.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to work with the Council to compel Clarion to ensure that; concerns are listened to and actioned in a timely manner, that more transparency is enacted with service charges, to commit to working with the council for improvements in the system of allocating residents so that existing tenants have a say in who their neighbours are, to provide a better balance of tenant and reverse the current system which is cumulative and having a detrimental effect on the community.

And the petitioners remain, etc.]

[P003084]

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

I rise to present a petition on behalf of the Omagh bombing inquiry, which is seeking access to unreported oral evidence given to my predecessors on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in 2009. The petition states:

The petition of the Solicitor to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry, Tom Suter

Declares that the independent statutory inquiry into the Omagh Bombing includes within its scope “The allegation made by Norman Baxter (former Senior Investigating Officer in the investigation into the Omagh Bombing) in the course of his evidence to the Northern Ireland Select Committee on 11 November 2009, that police investigators into previous attacks in Moira (20 February 1998), Portadown (9 May 1998), Banbridge (1 August 1998) and Lisburn (30 April 1998) did not have access to intelligence materials which may reasonably enabled them to disrupt the activities of dissident republican terrorists prior to the Omagh Bombing”; and further that evidence was taken from Mr Baxter in private session which was not reported to the House, and that the inquiry has taken advice on the application of Article 9 of the Bill of Rights to its proceedings and will be mindful of the privileges of the House.

The petitioner therefore requests that the House makes arrangements to supply the transcript of unreported oral evidence taken from Mr Norman Baxter by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in private session on 11 November 2009 to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.

And the petitioner remains, etc.

[P003091]

Assisted Dying

Debate between Tonia Antoniazzi and Rupa Huq

Monday 29th April 2024 Westminster Hall

[Tonia Antoniazzi]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention, because those are exactly the conversations that we need to be having. We need to see how this has worked in other countries, look at data, be specific and take our role as legislators seriously. We may fall on a different side of the debate, but we need to consider it and engage in the arguments. The work that has been done in this House by the Health and Social Care Committee reflects the importance of having the debate and taking the evidence. I hope that evidence will emerge if we get to debate the issue on the Floor of the House.

The Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland and the Royal College of General Practitioners oppose any law changes, while the British Medical Association holds a neutral stance. I was very interested to see what the BMA had suggested. Unfortunately, I do not have time to go into that now, but everyone I spoke to agreed that no medical professional should be forced to assist patients to end their lives. That stance is an interesting one, which we should consider.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is making an excellent speech. She has pointed out the opinion polls and the international examples—Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and so on—and mentioned the BMA’s neutral stance. Does she agree that some of us are massively conflicted on this issue? When it comes to abortion I am very pro-choice, but last time we voted on this subject I actively abstained—voted yes and no—and was relieved that the status quo was upheld. Does my hon. Friend agree that some of us are relieved that there is no vote today? With the Hippocratic oath and other things, we are just massively torn on this one, despite the opinion polls.

[Tonia Antoniazzi]

I appreciate my hon. Friend’s contribution. I am going to make progress, because I said that I was going to speak for only 10 minutes, but she makes a very valid point, which will be noted. I thank her for it. This is not an easy debate to have.

In their response to the petition, the Government said:

“It remains the Government’s view that any change to the law in this sensitive area is a matter for Parliament to decide…If the will of Parliament is that the law on assisting suicide should change, the Government would not stand in its way, but would seek to ensure that the law could be enforced in the way that Parliament intended.”

There has not been a vote on this subject in Parliament since 2015, but that does not mean that this House is ignoring the issue. In February this year, the Health and Social Care Committee published its report on assisted dying, as I mentioned. The report did not make any recommendations on law changes; rather, the aim was for the report to serve as a basis for discussion and further debate in Parliament.

A common theme in the evidence submitted to the Committee’s inquiry was what many respondents called “a good death”. I want to make it abundantly clear that assisted dying should not be discussed as a replacement for palliative care; we must also have frank discussions about how palliative care can be improved, so that we can give people the most comfortable end of life possible. Last Monday, there was an engaging Backbench Business debate in the House on funding for hospices; in the interests of time, I recommend that Members and other interested people read it in Hansard. We have to think about some of the recommendations that the Health and Social Care Committee did make around palliative care. It recommended that the Government

“ensure universal coverage of palliative and end of life services”,

give a funding uplift to hospices that require assistance, commission research into how better to provide mental health support and guidance after a terminal diagnosis, and

“establish a national strategy for death literacy and support following a terminal diagnosis.”

That was a point raised by Dr Doré during our conversation. I was struck by the issue of funding. As I mentioned, about two thirds of the funding for palliative care comes from charitable organisations, and I really do not see how that is good enough.

Should the law on assisted dying change and any services be covered by state funding, what message would that send? Should Parliament vote in favour of a law change, there are important questions to consider, some of which I hope I have highlighted this evening. These questions are difficult, but as legislators it is our job to assess the evidence and to try to answer them. The topic of assisted dying is so broad that there are many areas I simply do not have time to cover, such as the current situation in the Crown jurisdictions, the pursuit of prosecutions for family members, or the many individual stories I have heard.

I have previously spoken about the death of my father, over 12 years ago. My family have been supporting my lovely mum, who has had a very tough year—since December, there have been a few times when we did not expect her to pull through. Many friends and colleagues in the House have offered prayers, and I have to say that my mother is our little Easter miracle—the Catholicness never leaves you—and she continues to make good progress. During this time, I have personally wanted to talk about death and consider how I want my death to be. The experience of being in a hospital where there is death all around makes you reflect. It seems harsh and even simplistic, but when such emotion and heartbreak is all around you, you just want your loved ones to be out of pain, however that looks.

We have been lucky that my mother has gotten better, although her life has changed greatly. In my personal view, if someone has a terminal diagnosis and is mentally sound, should they not have the choice to take themselves out of suffering? That is the choice Dame Esther Rantzen talks about. Whatever comes from today’s debate, I would like everyone to consider bringing up the subject of their death with their loved ones now, before it is too late, because two things are certain in this world: we are born, and then we die.

State Pension Age: Women

Debate between Tonia Antoniazzi and Rupa Huq

Thursday 31st January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Tonia Antoniazzi]

Or even no notice at all—my hon. Friend took the works out of my mouth. That is just not acceptable and we have to keep fighting for change.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an impassioned, compelling and informed case. We have all had letters from people complaining not necessarily about what has been done, but about the way it has been done. I had a letter from Christina Fitzgerald, who has osteoarthritis, which makes it difficult enough to work as it is. One would think the Government would learn from their mistakes, but is my hon. Friend as scandalised as I am by the fact that only last week they snuck out another change for WASPI women? For people of mixed-age couples, from here on in, it will be only when the younger one reaches pensionable age that either of them will be allowed to claim their pension credit. Is not this yet another case of women having banked on something only to have the rug ripped from under their feet by this awful Government?

[Tonia Antoniazzi]

My hon. Friend makes a good and compelling point that I shall talk about in a moment. The UN special rapporteur on poverty said that the 1950s women were just “ill-prepared” to adjust. That is the injustice.

When I think about funding a compensation scheme, I think about the money paid into national insurance. Just as an indicator for the House, the national insurance fund accounts show an increase of nearly £2.3 billion in 2017-18, taking the fund to a total of £24 billion paid into the national investment account.