Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Sarah Smith and Andrew Lewin

2nd reading
Friday 11th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Lewin (Welwyn Hatfield) (Lab)]

Thank you for calling me, Madam Deputy Speaker. I mean that sincerely on a day when so many colleagues want to speak. I promise you that my remarks will be brief.

Our debate today is about who has choice and agency in our society both in respect of the authority of this elected House of Commons and what limits should exist on the role of the other place, and, more fundamentally, in respect of the right of a terminally ill person to exercise choice at the end of their life and whether the state should be able to override that. We are back here for a Second Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill not because the question before us has changed since November 2024, but due to the actions of a small number of Members of the other place.

[Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend confirm how many amendments were accepted in the House of Lords, and that it was about 90 peers who were involved in supporting all the amendments tabled?

[Andrew Lewin]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s intervention. I do not have that number; what I do have is the number of amendments that were proposed. There were 1,286 wrecking amendments.

There are many thoughtful and compassionate critics of the Bill who I respect deeply. I want to put on record my admiration for my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton) and for her astonishingly brave speech. However, what I cannot condone is the actions of Members of the other place whose motivation in the last Session of Parliament appeared to be to block the democratic process.