Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Karen Bradley and Naz Shah

2nd reading
Friday 11th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dame Karen Bradley]

I have enormous respect for the previous Minister, who I have worked closely with, but the point she is making about suicide of women who were victims of domestic abuse is a separate matter. For women to feel that they have nowhere else to go other than to commit suicide, is the most outrageous and horrendous situation, and we absolutely have to tackle and work on that. But this Bill is not the solution to that problem.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

I speak as a survivor of domestic violence and as a survivor of an attempted suicide many years ago, while campaigning about domestic violence. Does the right hon. Lady agree that coercion is not always external? Coercion can also be internal—“Am I a burden on my family?”, “Can they afford to look after me?” That coercion is not picked up on in training, because it comes from deep inside when a person is vulnerable and at their lowest ebb.