Humanist Weddings

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

This was one of the reasons why I thought I should probably not use the expression “at pace” a second time. The Government are going to run two consultations on three closely related issues, all to do with how families are formed and what happens when they break down. There will be a consultation on weddings reform and a consultation on cohabitation reform, which is a manifesto commitment. There is also going to be a consultation on financial remedies on divorce or dissolution of civil partnerships, including nuptial agreements. The Government are committed to doing this as early as possible.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend is against making an order. Is she aware that the lead civil servant on the Equality Act and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act thinks that the evidence for removing the discrimination against humanists by making an order, even if there is an interim measure pending a final order, is overwhelming? She further adds that it would not introduce any new inconsistency in the rules—that is to say, laying the order would not discriminate against any other group. So is it not such a bad idea after all?

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

My Lords, I am not sure that I can do better than to quote from the Law Commission report, which looked specifically at this issue. It said that it would be anomalous and unfair to privilege these non-religious belief organisations over religious groups, which are subject to greater legal regulation. In particular, it would be very difficult to justify why the fewest restrictions should be applied to the newest categories. It is for that reason that the Government are not going to use the order-making power to single out humanists.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Committee stage
Friday 27th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

The point that I was trying to make, and I am sorry if I have not expressed it properly, is that there is a huge amount of discretion here and the commissioner will be the person who appoints the panels. In a way, by assessing the work of the panels, the commissioner will be marking his or her own homework. That does not provide the independence that one would require.

If I may go on, we heard too in our Select Committee hearing, which the noble Lord was present at, about problems that have occurred in New Zealand. These need to be taken as a warning: we must ensure that there is independent transparency and lack of bias in the commission, through statutory safeguards, to avoid the failures that occurred in other countries. In the case of Mortier v Belgium, the European court—

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

I apologise for interrupting, but I am a little confused. It seems that there is a considerable principled difference between expertise and conflict of interest. People who have been involved in assisted dying have expertise; they do not necessarily have a conflict of interest. You can be a professional, as I am sure the noble Baroness well understands, and be independent, so why is expertise ruled out?

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that intervention, because expertise is not ruled out. It is the way that the commission functions that is important—that that does not allow skewing and silencing. What I was going on to point out is that one of the commissioners on the Belgian commission resigned because they felt that they were being silenced whenever they raised issues about problems in reporting, that they were unable to continue to provide ethically high standards and that their own expertise was not being respected.

I would be grateful if I could just continue for a moment, because I am not trying to filibuster. I would like to make that absolutely clear, following the extremely unpleasant, vicious comments that have been made about me, both in the media and in very aggressive emails that have been sent to me. If I may continue, I would be most grateful.

I am simply asking whether a commissioner with a financial interest in an assisted death business, whatever that is and however it is commissioned, is actually truly independent. There seems to be no requirement for the appointment to be scrutinised by a committee of Parliament or for a register of interest to be published. I am sure that that would happen, because that is a normal course of action in this country, but the equality impact assessment seems silent on this. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, referred to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 in relation to appointments, so I will not repeat that, but this commissioner’s post appears, as written, to be in the gift of the Prime Minister, and there does not appear to be verified impartiality in terms of the exercise of the functions, given the great importance of this role and the problem that if it does not work well then public confidence in the system will be lost.

Criminal Court Reform

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

The answer to the noble Lord is yes. These are the matters of expenditure to which my right honourable friend committed himself in the other place, and they will go ahead.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, I should declare that my daughter is a recorder. Very many people have put to me a lot of points, and there is just one that makes me want to ask my noble friend a question. I should say that all absolutely recognise the primacy of dealing with the backlog and that there is a clear case for complex, time-consuming fraud cases to go to the judge alone, and for low-level offences to go to magistrates alone. Indeed, I remember from my time as a magistrate that it was in that area where a certain amount—not a huge amount, but some—of gaming of the system went on. My noble friend has outlined a lot of measures which will improve courts, which is one of the problems; I would have hoped that that would solve the problem of the backlog, but clearly the Government think not. Because of the representations I have had, could my noble friend say what consultation there has been on these proposals with judges and with the criminal Bar?

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

I can reassure my noble friend that the consultation has been extensive. That does not necessarily mean that they agree with us or that all of them agree with us, although I observe—I say this as a practising criminal barrister myself—that it is a profession known for its caution; it is not always, shall we say, ready to adopt new ideas in particular ways. I am confident that once this system has had an opportunity to bed in, everyone will see the advantages.

European Convention on Human Rights

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the King’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard and Deputy Chief Whip (Baroness Wheeler) (Lab)]

My Lords, we will hear from the noble Baroness, Lady Winterton.

Humanist Weddings

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I am very happy to meet the noble Baroness.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

When this House heard the last of the very frequent and not very satisfactory Questions on this topic, my noble friend the Minister committed to conducting an equality impact assessment to evaluate the impact that this current ongoing delay is having on different groups. When will the Minister be able to share this with the House? Will he bring it to the meeting which has just been agreed?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I cannot remember making that commitment, so I will need to write to my noble friend about that matter.

European Convention on Human Rights: 75th Anniversary

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

The original Treaty of London was on display at Blenheim Palace on 18 July when European Ministers were meeting. We were proud that that treaty was on show. It is a symbol of the originating nature of the British Parliament in the founding of the treaty and something of which we should be very proud.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

Will my noble friend the Minister confirm that one of the really important virtues of the European court is that it protects the human rights of people in member states with poorer records than our own?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I am very happy to agree with what my noble friend has said.

Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, of course it is for judges to sentence as they see fit within sentencing guidelines—whichever case it is. It is important that peaceful protest is a vital part of our democratic society. It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to demonstrate as they want, as long as they do it peacefully and within the law. But there is a balance to be struck. The rights of protestors must be weighed against the rights of others to carry out their daily activities without fear of intimidation or significant disruption. Peaceful protest does not include violent or threatening behaviour, and the police have the power to address this, as they have done.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted to congratulate my noble friend on his role. Will he recognise the role in human rights of non-statutory bodies such as the British Institute of Human Rights? I declare my interest as an advisory board member. It trains many public servants in how to implement equality and human rights legislation. Will he also note that there is a certain absence of teaching human rights in schools? We do not have a written constitution, like the Gettysburg Address, which can be easily communicated to young people, so we should do more to let them know what rights actually consist of.

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I agree with my noble friend. There is an absence of teaching civic rights in our schools, and we could do more on this. Given the new focus on and enthusiasm for human rights, the various non-governmental bodies to which she has referred can play a greater role in promoting human rights in our society.