Business of the House

Madeleine Moon Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

I would absolutely welcome such a debate. There is a huge amount we can learn from young people, right across a whole range of topics. I pay tribute to the school pupils in his constituency for their commitment to talking about Brexit. In fact, there was also a debate about Brexit in my daughter’s school, where she was required to stand up for a second referendum. She rang me for some suggestions about what she could say, which I was of course very happy to provide. Many hon. and right hon. Members have provided me with plenty of ammunition in support of that. I do take seriously what the hon. Gentleman says, but in the meantime he might like to seek a Back-Bench debate, because I am sure that lots of hon. Members would like to commend the work done by young people in this country.

[Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab)]

Before I ask the Leader of the House a question, Mr Speaker, may I put on the public record how often I am told by the people of 30 nations with whom I often interact how much they admire our opportunity to have a Speaker who stands up for Back Benchers, who defends the standards of Parliament, and who represents the best of British way of doing things with fairness, openness and transparency? Thank you, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Thank you.

[Mrs Moon]

Scotland is currently consulting on non-time-limited guidance for clinicians to assess access to terminal illness benefits. Can we have more sitting Fridays in order to debate my private Member’s Bill that looks at amending the current time-limited access to terminal illness benefits to bring it into line with Scotland’s proposed, more compassionate guidance?

[Andrea Leadsom]

I certainly commend the hon. Lady for raising this very important issue. She will be aware that the decision to ensure that people did not have to go through constant assessments when they have a terminal illness was based entirely on compassion. She will also be aware that we have Health and Social Care questions on Tuesday 26 March, and I would encourage her to raise her specific point then.