Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Johnson of Marylebone Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 19th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Con)]

My Lords, I was one of 118 Members of the other place who voted unsuccessfully in favour of the Assisted Dying (No.2) Bill a decade ago when it was thrown out by that House in September 2015. Notwithstanding many powerful speeches that I listened to last Friday, and again today, my position on this subject has not changed. I support this latest effort to legalise it. As we have all heard, assisted dying has strong public support. It also has the mandate of the elected House in our Parliament. We should give it a fair hearing today and speed it on its way.

People who suffer from an incurable condition should not be forced against their will to endure intolerable suffering. The case for change, I believe, remains strong. It will provide terminally ill adults with the choice and dignity of a compassionate death within the law, and it will provide autonomy to those who feel that they are lacking agency and control over their lives.

There is also strong agreement in this House that the Bill is not yet perfect, and a desire to use our best efforts to improve it. That is what we should all focus on in the coming weeks. One area where it might benefit from further debate is the rather arbitrary, in my view, six-month threshold for eligibility. It will be worth us debating carefully whether there is not a case for instead having a test based on clinical progression, so that assisted dying is available to adults with a progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unlikely to recover and which can be reasonably expected to cause their death.

Either way, I am confident that this House will do its job: it will scrutinise the Bill carefully and improve it where possible and where necessary.