Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Deben Excerpts

Friday 9th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

He did not intend to say that he would go further than I have just gone. That is confirmed. I would be surprised if he had intended to go further than I intended to go.

With respect to the noble Lord, we are not here to debate what is going on in the family justice system. We are here to debate these amendments, and I am going to stick to that. I am also anxious not to take too many interventions because this is a large group, and there are things the Government want to say about workability. I need to get through them in the time allotted to me.

[Lord Deben (Con)]

It is of crucial importance for us to know whether, if we pass the Bill in these terms, other people who are in desperate need would find that they had to wait longer for that need to be met. It is not good enough for the Government to say, “We’ll provide resources to meet the Bill”. They must tell us whether those are additional resources or whether very sad and poor people are going to lose out because the Government take the money away.

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

I am sorry to disappoint the noble Lord, but I am not going further than I have gone.

It is the Government’s view that, to a great extent, the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, should stand or fall together. As we understand matters, the overall intention of the noble Lord’s amendments is to replace the assisted dying model set out in the Bill with a court-based system. That is a policy choice and a matter for Parliament, but the Government’s view is that, were Parliament to allow some of the noble Lord’s amendments but not others, this might cause problems with the drafting of other provisions, both in the Bill and elsewhere.

I give one further note of caution: if your Lordships support these amendments, the Government may need to revisit the drafting in order to ensure coherence with the statute book, and the noble Lord has readily acknowledged as much in his speech. Although our view is that the amendments from the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, stand or fall together, the Government believe that your Lordships should be aware of our observations and any concerns we need to raise about the workability of proposed clauses as currently drafted.