Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Wolfson of Tredegar and Lord Gove

Committee stage
Friday 20th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gove (Con)]

I had concluded my remarks but I am grateful to the noble Lord for raising this point. Precision medicine, and the advances that it potentially holds for all of us, is a wonderful potential breakthrough, but changes not just to the legislation but to the regulations governing it will be brought forward by the Government. Any concerns that the devolved legislatures have about the operation of them will be addressed by government means—by the Cabinet Office or any other Minister who is responsible for intergovernmental relations.

We had a situation in Wales where the Minister responsible was operating on the basis of assurances that he had been given by the sponsors of this Bill relating to Clause 42. It may well be that the sponsors can clarify what was meant; why it was that Jeremy Miles believed that if a legislative consent Motion had been denied, we would have legal assisted suicide—assisted dying—in Wales without the capacity of a Welsh Minister to determine the future of the NHS as they wished. Perhaps that can be cleared up.

We cannot have a recurrence of that situation, where we are having to clear it up here, having already had the legislative consent Motion, and the relevant Minister having told other Members of the Senedd that the only reason they should back that Motion was because of the fear he had of the effective privatisation of killing in Wales. That is why we must have government legislation, rather than proceeding with a Private Member’s Bill, which is clearly inadequate when we are dealing with the future of the NHS, for the people not just of Wales but the entire United Kingdom.

[Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (Con)]

My Lords, I first take a moment to say from the Front Bench how wonderful it is to see my noble and learned friend Lady Prentis of Banbury—who was here a moment ago.