Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Winston

Committee stage
Friday 23rd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Winston (Lab)]

I will not give way. I will answer at the end. I have almost finished what I have to say.

The fact of the matter is that this is not a true argument. There are many examples. In my practice, probably about 60% of the time when people came to my clinic, and it was always true even when IVF was successful, I refused them treatment. I refused to treat them, not because there was no money or we could not afford to treat them, but because I thought the treatment would increase their distress because it was so unlikely to be helpful.

When that happens to people, it is a kind of death within them, but they have the great advantage that they can mourn that death and overcome it by doing other things. Unfortunately, in this situation, when people are dying in the way they are, often horribly, there is something that we need to try to do purely out of compassion.

[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.