Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Moore of Etchingham

Committee stage
Friday 23rd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

To build on that, I will put the financial numbers into context. The impact assessment has it down as £28 million; I believe that is 0.000175% of the NHS budget. It is right and proper that we decide how NHS resources are spent and in which direction, as the noble Lord, Lord Winston, said. We make those decisions all the time—for example, whether we put more funding into cancer or other services. It is entirely appropriate.

One of the key phrases was, “It is our NHS”, and what do we know about assisted dying? That 70% of the public support it. Given that, surely it is entirely right that resources are spent in that way.

[Lord Moore of Etchingham (Non-Afl)]

The point that is being missed was made by the noble Lord, Lord Stevens, and it is the problem with what the noble Lord, Lord Winston, was saying. Can the noble Lord respond to it? We are talking about what the aim of this is, but it is not a health aim. The noble Lord, Lord Winston, spoke of better treatment for cancer and in vitro fertilisation. Are the noble Lords arguing that death is a health aim?

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Moore of Etchingham

Committee stage
Friday 16th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moore of Etchingham (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I support the point about lasting power of attorney that the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, has made and the noble Lord, Lord Harper, has reinforced, but I also want to look at it another way round. The fear—which is a very justified fear—is that the power could be abused in the case of assisted suicide, but I also think it is important to look at it from the point of view of the person who has given the lasting power of attorney.

Many noble Lords will have lasting power of attorney—I declare that I do myself—and it carries certain responsibilities. One thing that surprised me when I first got lasting power of attorney was that I might be asked to take a view about whether a “do not resuscitate” order should be given. Of course, that was an intimidating responsibility and something that I needed to establish with the person concerned. I understand why it had to happen, but it was pretty difficult and anxiety-inducing. Imagine if we who possess lasting power of attorney had some responsibility to take a view about whether the person over whom we have those powers should have an assisted suicide. It would seem a very unpleasant responsibility, and therefore it is important that both sides—the person who transfers the powers and the person who receives those transferred powers—should be quite excluded from this.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Every point that has been raised is valid, and I am sure that, when the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, gets up to respond, he will acknowledge those points as well. However, I think the question in each case is whether we want it to be a black or white assessment of whether that should apply.

Financial support is a very good example of where in some cases that may be very relevant and in others it may not. I remember that my mother, unfortunately, was given a matter of weeks to live and was helped on her way when there was a matter of days left. The financial circumstances just did not even come into it at that point, so having a black and white assessment saying, “Oh, she didn’t seek financial support or didn’t have it”, was not even a relevant criterion. On the question about mental health and whether someone has had any disorders, that is very relevant if it was a recent episode but I think we would probably say it was not very relevant at all if it was 50 or 60 years ago.

Therefore, in all these circumstances, are we not seeing cases where it depends on the circumstances? To me, it is a question of whether we trust the panel, and whether we trust the doctors assessing the case, who are looking into all the criteria and will have the opportunity to call for any evidence they need on it, to be able to do that.