Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord McKenzie of Luton Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab)]

My Lords, with over 100 speakers down, the Bill has had a good airing. I supported the Bill on its previous outings and do so again today. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, not only on her approach to the issue but on how it is encapsulated in the Bill.

We look forward to understanding the issues the noble Baroness is looking to raise in Committee. For those who doubt the intentions of the noble Baroness so far as disabled people are concerned, I invite them to look at her record and the welfare reform discussions with the previous Labour Government.

I will refer to one personal issue as an illustration. Some 18 months ago I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis—I think the noble Lord, Lord Leigh, referred to that. It is a respiratory disease with no current cure and, for most, no known cause. What I am very clear about is that the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, has given us a choice as to how we proceed, protected by a range of stipulations. I hope yet to live to an old age and to confound my pension providers. I also hope that medical science will continue to flourish and produce new solutions to changing problems so that we no longer focus just on death, but on life afterwards.