Speeches by Leadbeater.

“I beg to move, That— (1) the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 2.00 pm on Tuesday 21 January) meet— (a) at 9.25 am and 2.00 pm on Tuesday 28 January; (b) at 9.25 am and 2.00 pm on Wednesday 29 January; (c) at 11.30 am and 1.00 pm on Thursday 30 January. (2) during further proceedings on the Terminall…”

“On a point of order, Sir Roger. Surely we are having a conversation about whether we sit in private or not. Can we keep to that matter?”

“On a point of order, Sir Roger. That, again, is factually incorrect. We have already said that there will be a private sitting for conversations about individual witnesses, including some that the hon. Gentleman has already started talking about, and then we will open again to the public so that everybody can hear the …”

“It is a matter of fact.”

“On a point of order, Sir Roger. That is categorically not true. The Bill was written with senior legislative expertise, along with myself as a sitting Member of Parliament and with esteemed colleagues. I take that point of offence quite personally.”

“That is not true.”

“Does the hon. Member agree that the renewed focus on the hospice and palliative care sector is extremely welcome and overdue? Does he agree that the extra £100 million of investment shows how seriously this Government are taking the issue, showing that people approaching the end of life are fully supported in whatever …”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on correcting the record. I said in my speech that I have consulted with the highest levels of the judiciary and the medical profession. [Official Report, 29 November 2024; Vol. 757, c. 1019.] I have received correspondence from the Judicial Office and wish to clari…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I suggest that the Bill will give society a much better approach towards end of life. We are already hearing conversations about dying and death which I do not think we have heard enough in this country. We have to take a holistic view. Indeed, that is what happens in other …”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. How many people will go through the situations I have described if it is another 10 years before we address this matter?”

“I am not going to take any more interventions, I am afraid, because I am conscious that lots of hon. Members want to speak; I know Mr Speaker is conscious of that as well. Under the Bill, any terminally ill person who wants to be considered for an assisted death would have to undertake a thorough and robust process inv…”

“I am sorry but I am not going to take any interventions, as I need to make progress. The court must speak to one of the doctors and can hear from anybody else they deem necessary. If there is any evidence of coercion, the court will not approve the request, and if evidence emerges subsequently, the court order could be…”

“My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I thank him for it, and for his years of service as a nurse. I have spoken to many medical professionals about this issue, and they say that this is part of their job. They are very skilled and they work closely with patients, particularly dying patients, to assess their nee…”

“The hon. Gentleman has made the point for me: within a robust system, we will check for coercion, but we do not have any of that now. At the moment, the person will be definitely be dead. We have to look at the status quo. Putting in layers of safeguarding and checking for coercion must be better than the system that w…”

“The hon. Lady makes an excellent point—she is absolutely right. The very strict criteria in the Bill add extra layers of safeguarding, which, again, we just do not have at the moment.”

“As I have said, at the moment, we have no idea whether that person would take action because we are not having those conversations. By getting two medical professionals and a High Court judge involved, we would be putting this out in the open. Evidence from other jurisdictions shows clearly that coercion tends to happe…”

“I agree absolutely. Those conversations, which are not taking place at the moment, are very important. I will make some progress. There has rightly been a lot of discussion about palliative care in recent weeks, and I am convinced that a significant amount of that discussion would not have taken place without the intro…”

“I beg to move, that the Bill be now read a Second time. Thank you, Mr Speaker, and thank you to everyone who is attending this hugely significant debate. It is a privilege to open the debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a piece of legislation that would give dying people, under stringent criteria, c…”

“I will take one more intervention.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention and I will come on to some of those points later in my speech. Let us be very clear: the title of the Bill refers to terminally ill adults, not disabled people or elderly people, as another hon. Member referred to. The criteria are very clear. I come back to the status quo, w…”