Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Harper

Committee stage
Friday 23rd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harper (Con)]

I am grateful for my noble friend’s comments, and he is right: we had an extensive exchange on this subject on a previous Friday, and I am sure the Minister will correct me if my interpretation of what one of her ministerial colleagues said was incorrect, but it was very clear when I asked whether the Government were going to fund anything in the Bill. The Minister confirmed that, if Parliament were to choose to pass the Bill, the Government would indeed fund it and make sure it could be delivered. But when I asked the Minister whether that funding would be extra funding from the Treasury or would be taken from other parts of the public services—I think this was in the context of the extensive debate we had on the proposals on the court system by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile—it was made very clear that that assurance was not given. I am afraid that the only conclusion I could come to, which was not challenged by the Minister—if she thinks I have got it wrong, she is welcome to intervene—was that the money would come from other parts of the public services.

I have to say for myself that, if this assisted dying navigator proposal were to be funded by taking money away from NHS services to pay for it, I think people would find that quite extraordinary. I personally would find it indefensible that we were, again, taking money away from services to help people live to pay for a service to help them die. That would show a very odd sense of priorities. When the Minister responds, because she is the only one who can answer this question, not the sponsor of the Bill, because he is not, as far as I am aware, responsible for His Majesty’s Treasury, I hope she can tell us—

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My Lords, I think I heard my noble friend say that NHS resources should be used just to help people live. Of course, we would all agree that is a very important thing, but surely palliative care is all about helping people to die comfortably, which I think we all believe in as well. Given that, maybe my noble friend would agree that helping people to die comfortably, such as through palliative care, is a very good way to spend NHS resources as well.

[Lord Harper (Con)]

I agree that palliative care is a very good way to spend NHS resources, to help people live the rest of their lives in as comfortable a way as possible; it is not about accelerating their demise. That is a fundamentally different thing. In the exchange towards the end of our debate last week between my noble friend Lord Markham and my noble friend Lady Finlay about what palliative care is and is not, we had that, and I think it came out very clearly.

I do not wish to overstep the time available to me. The purpose of the amendments is to challenge some of the premises of the proposal set out by the noble Lord, Lord Birt. I hope I have set out some of the concerns that we have, and I hope that the House will support the amendments I have supported on the Order Paper.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Harper

Committee stage
Friday 16th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

This whole debate shows that these are not black and white matters. Although they are all relevant criteria, which absolutely should be in the assessment—my understanding from the Bill is that they are in the assessment—it should not be put down as some sort of tick-box exercise that says you are either eligible or not, according to them.

[Lord Harper (Con)]

May I just check: is the noble Lord, Lord Markham, really saying that he wants it to be open so that a lasting power of attorney could be used by somebody else to seek the death of the person on behalf of whom they have that power? Does he want that to be available? I do not think he does, and it appeared that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, did not either. If we do not think it should be, we should rule it out.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

What I am trying to come back to—a point that my noble friend Lord Deben was making—is that there are some valid criteria here. I am trying to build some flexibility into this system. Lots of eligibility criteria are being set out here, in all these different amendments.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Harper

Committee stage
Friday 14th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harper (Con)]

I am going to finish very quickly if you do not interrupt me. The time limit is very clear, and I am going to stick to it, but I am finishing my point. I was coming to the end of my point, and that was not necessary. The Government Chief Whip made it clear that these are incredibly important issues, and we will debate them with courtesy and respect. I will treat people whom I do not agree with on this issue with courtesy and respect. As I have not exceeded the time limit, I do not expect to be yelled at. Let me just finish my point and then I will sit down.

My experience—I am going to go over the time limit only because I was interrupted—as a former constituency MP is that it is better to get these things right in advance, when you draft the legislation, and not spend years trying to fix them afterwards.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My Lords, I am not an expert on delegated powers, so I must admit to a bit of confusion. I hope that either the Minister or the Bill’s sponsor, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer—or maybe both—can help clear this up.

My understanding of what the Bill is trying to do is to enable the Welsh Senedd to make a choice. If the amendments were to go through as drafted, they would deny that choice, because they would rule out people living in Wales from being able to choose whether they have assisted dying, whereas what I think the Bill is trying to do—I hope that can be clarified in the response—is state that the legislation will enable the Welsh Senedd to decide whether and how it wants to implement the Bill. When the Senedd does that, it can take into account the points that the noble Lord, Lord Harper, made about how the two services could sit alongside each other.

If we were to pass this amendment, we would deny the people of Wales that choice. That cuts right across the principles that the noble Lord, Lord Weir, set out when he said that the decision should be taken in Wales. The amendment would mean that the decision was taken here, which would deny the people of Wales that choice.