Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Tom Gordon and Florence Eshalomi

Friday 16th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Gordon]

I am bringing my remarks to a close.

If we believe in dignity, let us ensure it is a dignity that includes everyone; if we believe in autonomy, let us not deny it to those who may lose their voice tomorrow; and if we believe in compassion, let it be a compassion that recognises the lived reality of all terminal illnesses and does not consign those with MND to the status quo.

[Florence Eshalomi]

Mindful of time and of the need to allow other colleagues to speak, I have been carefully to ensure that my speech is short. I will therefore not be taking any interventions.

I voted against the Bill on Second Reading, on the grounds that there were inadequate safeguards against the coercion of minority communities. That was based on my belief that, if we are to legislate for something as serious as the end of someone’s life, then the bar that the legislation must reach in order for it to be deemed safe needs to be much higher than it is in other areas. In the time since, I have followed closely the scrutiny that the Bill has received at Committee and on Report. I had hoped that my concerns would be addressed, but I am sad to say that I am even more worried now than I was then.

Before getting to the new clauses and amendments that would provide important safeguards, I want to state again that I do not think the Bill is the appropriate mechanism for a national decision of this magnitude to be made, and ultimately, any decision on it should be led by the Government and the clear will of this House, not on promises made to people without an elected mandate.

I pay tribute to the work of tireless campaigners on a number of important issues in relation to the scrutiny of this Bill since Second Reading. That work resulted in many amendments and new clauses being tabled by Members from across the House to attempt to strengthen the protections for at-risk groups. As I alluded to, I sadly do not have enough time to speak to all of those that I support, but I am grateful for the efforts of the many who have led and spoken in this debate.

I will speak to amendment 16, which stands in my name. It would make it explicit in clause 28 that there would be no obligation on any care home or hospice that is regulated by the Care Quality Commission or the Care Inspectorate Wales to provide assisted dying on its premises. I understand that my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) has tabled new clause 10 to replace clause 28 and thereby ensure that there is no obligation on anyone to provide assistance. While I welcome the expansion of protection that that provides to practitioners who do not wish to provide assistance, I do not believe that it is comprehensive.

Dr Jamilla Hussain, a palliative care consultant working predominantly with ethnic minority communities in Bradford, gave oral evidence to the Bill Committee. She said:

“I have gone into those communities and I have spoken to them about this Bill. What they say overwhelmingly to me is, ‘We’re scared. We’re really fearful that this is going to result in a disproportionate impact on our community. We have seen that through covid and we’re so scared.”––[Official Report, Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Public Bill Committee, 29 January 2025; c. 187, Q245.]

Heartbreakingly, she also said:

“Almost every week, one of the first things I have to reassure patients about is that I cannot legally do anything to shorten their life. This is front and centre of the fear for those patients and we see it all the time.”––[Official Report, Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Public Bill Committee, 29 January 2025; c. 190, Q247.]

This is not an academic or theoretical risk. Are we really prepared to sideline those unheard voices and risk embedding further inequalities in healthcare as we legislate?

We are all elected to this place to elevate the voices of those who feel that they are furthest away from power. If we are to achieve that, we must make decisions that honour their experiences, and legislate to protect them, but if hospices are unable to opt out of a collective policy of providing assisted dying, the people who already feel ignored by healthcare systems are more likely to fear accessing the care that they need at the end of their life. That would create further unnecessary suffering, and I know that we are all united in wanting to avoid that.

I do not doubt the good intentions of any Members choosing to support this Bill, and I thank the many constituents, on both sides of the debate, who have contacted me. However, we politicians have to be clear that Members with valid concerns about this Bill are raising them not because of some ideology or religious belief, but because we recognise that if this Bill passes, it may impact everyone, not just those who wish to die. It is not wrong or scaremongering to consider wider family life, relationships in which there are feelings of burden or coercion, and vulnerable women and people from the BME community at the end of their life. It is not wrong or scaremongering for us politicians, as we continue to receive correspondence from our constituents about the broken state of our NHS and social care, to think carefully about a Bill that may alter the relationship between doctors and their patients.

It is frankly insulting to disabled people and hard-working professionals up and down the country to have their many valid concerns about this Bill dismissed as religious beliefs. Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that instead of giving a universal right to dignity in death, this Bill would reinforce the health inequalities that deprive so many from our vulnerable communities of dignity in life. I urge Members to keep that at the forefront of their mind as we vote today, and to reject this Bill.