Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Marie Goldman and Lauren Edwards

2nd reading
Friday 11th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lauren Edwards]

That is a part of our usual parliamentary process and the hon. Lady is right to raise that point.

By sending the Bill back to the Lords as it stands, we will prevent that same small group of peers who talked it out last time from doing the same thing again. It is my fervent wish that all the peers—

[Marie Goldman (Chelmsford) (LD)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Lauren Edwards]

No, I am sorry; I will make some progress.

It is my fervent wish that all the peers in the House of Lords will accept that important distinction between their Chamber and ours, and fulfil their role in the usual way. In doing so, they can consider and send an amended Bill back to us for a final vote before Royal Assent.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lauren Edwards]

I will make some progress.

As important as a democratic point of principle is to the argument I am making, we must not lose sight of the people who are relying on us most: the terminally ill and their families. The Gallery today is filled with inspirational people campaigning for this much-needed change in the law—people who are themselves terminally ill and who, due to the passage of time, may never get the opportunity to choose a dignified death surrounded by their loved ones, but who nevertheless spend the time that they have left campaigning so that others in future may have that choice.

[Marie Goldman]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Lauren Edwards]

I am sorry; I will not.

Those people include Christie Arntsen, who has lived for more than a decade with incurable metastatic breast cancer, which has sadly returned for the fifth time. She is undergoing what may be her final treatment of chemotherapy. Christie speaks eloquently about how her fear of a difficult death has weighed on her mind since her diagnosis and affected her life:

“For me the scariest part of having the diagnosis was that I had no control over the last few weeks of my life…If I had known that assisted dying was an option, a weight would have been lifted from my mind for the last 10 years.”