Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Earl of Dundee Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Dundee (Con)]

My Lords, I begin by congratulating my noble friend Lady Davidson of Lundin Links on her excellent maiden speech.

Although I appreciate the motive of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, to reduce suffering, I join many noble Lords in opposing this Bill.

Briefly, I shall make three points: on the problems arising if assisted suicide should become legal; on the case for promoting palliative care instead; and, in the interests of people here and overseas, on the need for our United Kingdom Parliament to give that clear message now.

As a Council of Europe parliamentarian, I am glad that the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has consistently found that there is no human right to die, whether assisted by another person or by a public authority; and equally glad that human rights law in the United Kingdom and most other countries emphasises the obligation of the state to protect life.

However, the Bill risks undermining that priority; a change in the law would induce the desire for suicide in many of the vulnerable, who otherwise would not have contemplated it. The Bill puts pressure on them to end their lives for fear of being a financial, emotional or care burden. Given that it is the Bill’s intention to help rather than to harm them, that outcome would be ironic, producing the unintended consequences already referred to by the right reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others.

Yet in a variety of jurisdictions supporting assisted dying, negative developments are only too well evident, including from the Netherlands, where hundreds of euthanasia cases have already involved elderly people who were not seriously ill at all but simply had conditions associated with normal old age; from Belgium, applying to those with the first symptoms of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s, as well as patients suffering from depression and older people with other general complaints; and then, as mentioned by my noble friend Lord Bridgeman, from Canada, where even the requirement for a person to be terminally ill has now been scrapped and, from 2023 those with mental illness will be able to request assisted dying.

Along with many others, the noble Lord, Lord Howarth of Newport, also reminded us that those examples show how quite rapidly following the adoption of assisted dying legislation any claimed safeguards, such as those within this Bill, become eroded.

Palliative care, by contrast, alleviates pain and suffering, while its practice, unlike that of assisted dying, protects human life and dignity. Hardly any patient is beyond the reach of palliative care, and the United Kingdom is well advanced in this. Nevertheless, internationally, the dispensation of palliative care is under threat, not least where assisted dying is popular.

During the pandemic, proper efforts were made to give palliative care to the dying, yet now over 300 people a day suffer unnecessarily due to lack of access to this relief. It is a statutory service that is still neither funded nor commissioned across the NHS in a consistent way. Therefore, as the noble Baroness, Lady Masham of Ilton, also asked, can my noble friend the Minister say what plans the Government have to cause that deficiency to be replaced by a much more competent delivery?

Two constructive results may possibly come from this debate: insufficient backing for the Bill, and a firm commitment by the Government to ensure the increase of palliative care.

If so, a clear message will have been given nationally and internationally: that for all those approaching the end of their lives, the United Kingdom can support the right balance of standards of quality, humanity and good practice.