Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 12th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dobbs (Con)]

My Lords, I speak as a cancer sufferer, as a man who applauds and supports the hospice movement and, I hope, as a conservative. I reject, as a matter of principle, the idea that the state can demand ownership of my body any more than it can own my spirit or my soul. The current law is cruel and untenable. The Supreme Court says it must be reviewed, the police refuse properly to enforce it and the public demand that it be changed.

There is the contrary argument that our lives and our deaths belong to God. I understand the strength of opinion of those who plead that case. But I suggest that you have no right to impose your view on others who do not agree. With respect, I see no hand of any God that I recognise in laws that condemn innocent men and women to die in agony even when they beg for their pain to stop.

Why are we so afraid to change? Do we really believe that there are ruffians waiting to pounce from the shadows upon their own families? That is the other argument that is put against the Bill. Are we to believe that we have become so cruel that we have turned into a society of casual killers? Is that what we are supposed to believe, what we are supposed to have become? Let us weigh that supposition—that is what it is—against actual suffering and against the reality of the totally unnecessary torments that so many are forced to endure, even when they beg for mercy. Weigh those things up, one against the other—measure fear against fact—and there is surely only one compassionate outcome: this Bill, or something very much like it, with all its many safeguards.

A nurse wrote to me: “I have never met a nurse or a doctor who is eager to end the life of any patient, but I have known many nurses and doctors who want to end their suffering. I hope and pray that the law will change and I will not be subjected to the laws dictated by those who do not agree with me”.

I wish I had had the opportunity, out of love, to help my mother pass peacefully in my arms, instead of watching her years of suffering. It would have been her choice, but she had no choice. Instead, I am left with an enduring memory of endless pain. Your body, your life and your choice—I wish all noble Lords long lives and a quiet and gentle and loving end.

Police Service

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

Wednesday 11th June 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Dobbs]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking in response to concerns expressed by the leaders of the Police Superintendents’ Association and the Police Federation of England and Wales that the police service is “in crisis”.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Hanson of Flint) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to giving the police the resourcing and staffing they need to tackle crime. As set out in the police funding settlement, overall funding for policing will total £19.6 billion in 2025-26, an increase of up to £1.2 billion compared to the 2024-25 settlement under the Government the noble Lord supported. The Government will also publish a White Paper on police reform later this year.

[Lord Dobbs (Con)]

My Lords, I come from a family of four generations of police officers. I am proud to refer to that, as a matter of interest. The Labour manifesto promised to lower all sorts of crime, and I wish them well in fulfilling that promise. But the Police Federation and the Police Superintendents’ Association, in their joint letter, say that the police service is in a state of “crisis”, that it is “broken” and that as officers are

“battling burnout and crushing stress, it becomes a national emergency”.

These are all direct quotes from their letter sent over the weekend. This is really rather terrifying, so my Question is about numbers. The Labour Government inherited a total of nearly 148,000 full-time-equivalent warranted police officers, which was the highest level reached in two decades. But since this Government took office, the numbers have started falling. So can the Minister give a commitment that, after today’s spending review, there will be more warranted police officers in eight years’ time—that is, warranted police officers, not support staff, important though those may be? Will those numbers have gone up in a year’s time, or will they have fallen further still?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord. There are always challenges in the police service, but I do not recognise the word crisis, which has been put to us after nine months in office. A crisis is when 20,000 police officers were cut from the budget after 2010. A crisis is when a halving of PCSOs took place over the duration of the last Government. A crisis is when there were two-thirds cuts in special constables under the previous Government. A crisis is when the previous Government blocked the independent recommendations on pay. This Government have accepted the recommendations on pay and put in place 3,000 extra neighbourhood police this year. We will put in place 13,000 by the end of this Parliament. This year we have put in £1.2 billion extra over what the noble Lord’s Government supported last year. We have put in money, extra in real terms, and provided an increase in policing, through the comprehensive spending review a few moments ago, and we will ensure that we meet those needs. When we meet the Police Federation and the Police Superintendents’ Association, as we have done on several occasions since the election, we will have a positive dialogue—unlike what I believe happened in the previous 14 years. I welcome the noble Lord’s support, but let us look at the facts.

Female Genital Mutilation

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord, who has a long history of tackling this issue in legislation and bringing it before the House. He deserves credit for the work he has done to date. He mentioned a couple of key issues. We agree that the prosecution rate needs to be examined. The College of Policing has recently sent out further authorised professional practice notes to police forces and we recently confirmed £13.1 million of funding for a new centre to tackle violence against women and girls, which will help look at a range of issues, of which FGM will be one. He is also right that we need to look at the prevalence of FGM. The feasibility study I mentioned in my initial Answer looks at how we can record and understand better the level of crime being committed. One of the key things we are doing is looking at that study and what needs to be undertaken. I and colleagues will bring forward measures to this House and to the House of Commons in due course, of which support for survivors is key.

[Lord Dobbs (Con)]

My Lords, I believe that the figures for female genital mutilation reported by the National Health Service are considerably greater than the figures the Minister just gave us. This has been going on for years—not just under this Government, but year after year. Thousands of people are being mutilated in this way, usually children. Yet I think there have been not two but three convictions for this crime in all these years—thousands of cases and three convictions. Does this not have the stench of the Rotherham grooming scandal? Why is it so difficult to get justice in this country?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord. The figures from NHS England, which I have before me, show that between April 2024 to June 2024, 985 new cases of women and girls with FGM were recorded by the NHS, with around 2,175 cases in total during these three months. He is right that there is, in my view, an underreporting of FGM and a need to up the level of prosecution when evidence is submitted. The purpose of the study that was commissioned and undertaken was to look at how we both better record and translate recording into prosecution. He is right that the prosecution level is too low. That is why the College of Policing is issuing guidance to police forces on how they can record information to put forward to the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure that those prosecutions take place.

UK/US Free Trade Agreement

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for the question, but I do not agree with her. We have to respect President Trump. He won an enormous victory and he has a massive mandate from the American people. That is democracy. We will work with President Trump and his Administration.

[Lord Dobbs (Con)]

I wish the Government well in their attempts to get a free trade deal with the United States, but is it not time for a little joined-up thinking? While the Prime Minister says this is what he wants, over the weekend the Labour Mayor of London insisted on calling President Trump, essentially, a fascist, and said that we are on the road to the 1930s. This is not a special relationship—they are turning it into a sack of ferrets. Do the Government agree with the Labour Mayor of London, or will they repudiate the comments that he made over the weekend?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a very important point. I disagree with the Mayor of London. President Trump won the election; he has an enormous mandate, and we have to work with him. Sometimes, a period of silence would be most welcome.