Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, I have two stories about two people. One was a very good friend of mine, who was diagnosed many years ago with motor neurone disease and suffered the inevitable long and miserable decline as he lost his bodily functions. He was remarkable: he wanted to live and he had the most positive spirit. At one stage, just a few months before he died, he wrote the most incredible and upbeat article about life for the Daily Telegraph—it took him months to write because he had to use a screen of an alphabet with his eyes. It was the triumph of spirit over a declining mind and body.

The second story is about a friend of mine who, almost three years ago, in January 2019, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. She was told in uncompromising terms by her consultant to prepare for end of life. I was in her house in January, on a Sunday morning, when she was distressed and distraught and said that she wanted to end it all. She had been a distinguished medical practitioner in her own field and had been very highly regarded, extremely active and very much in control of her own life. She said that she did not want to end her life with loss of dignity and independence and lots of suffering, and asked, “What are you doing about it?” I said that we were doing everything that we could to help. She said: “I want to end it.” I did not have the courage to say to her: “The reason you cannot end it is that society has said that you cannot. Society has decided that it knows better than you. Even though this is the most important decision that anybody can take about their own life, society has said: ‘You are denied that choice and you have to suffer.’” I cannot accept that; it is wrong and cruel. For that reason, I support this Bill.

Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury Excerpts

Friday 18th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, I have been in your Lordships’ House for nine months, and this is by far the most important subject to have come to us in that time. I support the Bill because I believe in the principle that, with the right criteria and with the right safeguards and procedures in place, people who wish to end their lives should be allowed to make that decision for themselves. It should be their choice, and I am uneasy about saying to them, “No, you cannot decide this for yourself. We know better”.

Of course, I respect and understand the concerns that people have about the Bill. I understand, but do not accept, the argument that although the Bill could bring relief from intolerable suffering for individuals, there may be wider adverse consequences for society. I understand the fears that some people have about the “thin end of the wedge”, although I think that issue lies firmly in the hands of Parliament. I also very much understand that people have concerns about the details of the Bill. Are the safeguards strong enough? Are the procedures sufficiently precise?

However, today, I want to touch very briefly on one aspect, which was triggered by an article in yesterday’s Telegraph by the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Mirvis, who opposes the Bill. He said:

“There is no greater value in Judaism than the sanctity of life … It is a gift from God and it is not ours to cut short. Life has an absolute value”.

He carefully used the word “absolute”—in other words, it is not qualified or diminished in any way and not relative. I stand to be corrected, but I have no reason to believe that the Chief Rabbi is a pacifist and I presume therefore that he believes in self-defence. If one believes in self-defence, you have to decide at what point the taking of life is justified to defend life; and, in deciding that, you engage in some form of utilitarian calculation. I question the Chief Rabbi’s use of the word “absolute”; as the noble Lord, Lord Alli, said earlier, there are no absolutes. Indeed, as we all know, there are many distinguished people with deep religious convictions, and many in this House, who support the Bill.

When the Chief Rabbi says there is no greater value in Judaism than the sanctity of life, we understand and totally respect that he would never contemplate ending his own life—

[Lord Winston]

Has it occurred to the noble Lord that self-defence is the preservation of life?

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury]

I understand that. The point I was making was that when you engage in self-defence, you are in the process also of risking and taking life for that objective. That involves a calculation.

When the Chief Rabbi says there is no greater value than the sanctity of life, we understand that he would not contemplate taking his own. But are these people who could never contemplate taking their own lives because of their convictions saying that people who do not share those convictions should nevertheless be bound by them? Surely not, if you believe in religious freedom. All of us have our own moral beliefs, and it is society’s job to decide where morality and the law should overlap and then to shape the law accordingly. That is what this Bill seeks to do.

The Bill is so important, and the practicalities so crucial, that it needs to be scrutinised in detail. I hope therefore that it will receive a Second Reading.