Lords
Debate
24 April 2026
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords—
My concern is merely to say that, whatever your views are, I do not know of a previous occasion when such concerted concerns have been, frankly, not faced up to.
The second thing that I find very difficult is for it to be said that this is a robust and safe Bill, when, so far, it has not actually m…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
27 March 2026
7 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I would like to introduce my Amendment 664. It is designed to ensure not only that no medical professional is obliged to participate in such training but that, in order to do so, the medical professional must give written consent. Professional training aims to show students not only how to…
I am just finishing. I will not take interventions.
A second reason for the amendment, which would require written opt-in for training for medical and other health and care professionals, is that to many—not just in this House but in society as a whole—assisting suicide is deeply immoral and it wou…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I know the noble Baronesses, Lady Lawlor and Lady O’Loan, feel very strongly about this matter, and they are perfectly entitled to do so. But we debated this at length in Committee: we had four hours-worth of debate then. We debated it for two hours last week on Report. Both noble Baroness…
My Lords, I rise to speak for no more than 90 seconds in support of the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan.
When we in this House voted through Clause 246 last week, we had failed to consider an important logical effect. In voting to decriminalise abortion by the mother up to the eve of…
Lords
Debate
20 March 2026
3 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I would like to follow my noble friend Lord Gove’s able introduction of the series of amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Frost, and add a few words about why they are particularly important, giving a little more detail on some of the individual amendments to supplement that giv…
Say we have a medical practitioner who does not, for the reasons the noble and learned Lord has given, want to discuss this. What is to make sure that the person, the organisation or whatever it is, the vague entity under the Bill, to which the person will then be referred, is not part of a, if you …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
18 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, my Amendment 423ZA would limit the application of Clause 208 to those deemed not to have capacity. I have also added my name to Amendment 426C in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf.
Under the present law, it is an offence for a woman to procure an abortion to end her pregnancy afte…
Lords
Committee Stage
16 March 2026
2 contributions
Treaty Scrutiny in Westminster (International Agreements Committee Report)
My Lords, I need to respond to the rather surprising compliment from the noble Lord, Lord Lilley. I can do so because I agree with a number of things that he said, in particular on the case for parliamentary scrutiny during negotiation and before a deal is struck. I am sure that we all agreed with h…
I thank the noble Baroness. I think we have much more diversity than she is giving us credit for, but she has perhaps not been a member of the committee for quite as long as I have.
I am also grateful to my noble friend the Minister for recognising that the defence of, “Do not worry, there is imple…
Lords
Debate
13 March 2026
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, mine is an amendment to Amendment 552A from the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, which itself is an amendment to Amendment 552 from the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay. I think that this is a very good group of amendments: they avoid the potential conflict of interest about which we have heard an…
May I just clarify? I think that response was in response to my amendments to Clause 37 for the manufacture of these products. However, Amendment 552B is in respect of the limited number of designated pharmacies which were distributing these drugs. In Amendment 552, the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support these amendments because it is very important that live facial recognition should be subject to legal oversight and judicial oversight; there should be a law. We should see such amendments in the context of an overall parliamentary democracy which believes in lawful freedom of ex…
Lords
Debate
27 February 2026
3 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I was going to speak to Amendment 146, in the name of my noble friend Lady Eaton, to which I have added my name. It concerns care homes and a duty on the commissioner to identify and monitor emerging risk and report systemic risk to the Secretary of State so that preventive steps can be ta…
My Lords, I support Amendment 472, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Gray of Tottenham, to which I added my name, along with the noble Lord, Lord Goodman of Wycombe. I also support Amendment 941 from the noble Lord, Lord McColl of Dulwich, and I will just say a few words about that.
Amendment 941,…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Resetting the UK-EU Relationship (European Affairs Committee Report)
It is an excellent report and very well presented, but I wonder why the negotiation has to be so transactional, so timid and so slow. What could be done to speed it up? I suspect that one of the reasons is that the Commission negotiators are the same guys who were involved in the Brexit negotiation,…
Lords
Debate
6 February 2026
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I will speak in favour of my Amendment 110B, which would disapply Section 3(2) of the Mental Capacity Act, which, in effect, allows a person to be regarded as able to make a decision for himself
“if he is able to understand an explanation of it given to him in a way that is appropriate to…
If the noble and learned Lord is not going to write to Sir Chris Whitty to find out further, can he remind us to what evidence he referred when he gave his judgment that the Mental Capacity Act 2005 was suitable for the purposes of this Bill?
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
10 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, is the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, suggesting that where sensitive matters are investigated, we should change the law? Let me refer to the case of a coroner investigating a death at home. I can cite an example only last Saturday of a friend of mine who died at home of natural causes, but his…
I have great respect for the noble Baroness, and I was delighted to see her come to the House. However, I think it would be in keeping to withdraw a comment that could be misinterpreted as ageist and genderist.
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
30 January 2026
3 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I added my name in support of the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Rainow, for in-person assessment by the assisting doctor—the first assessment and the second. As has been said, how on earth can any doctor judge the mind—the physical and mental condition—of the person whom he …
My Lords, to add to what has been said, AI is based on large language models, which involve big datasets. I ask your Lordships to consider whether such large datasets, based on assessing a snippet of data to assist diagnosis, are a good way of assessing individual patients. They were not designed to…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I shall say a few words in support of Amendment 449 from the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, and Amendment 454 from the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti. I do so on the grounds, really, that—
I came in just as the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, got up.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
23 January 2026
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, my Amendments 55, 246, 319, 342, 387, 453 and 513 are all about the same thing. They are designed to ensure that those contemplating assisted suicide fully understand the effects on their bodies of the drugs that they will be given and know about possible complications. As it stands, Claus…
Is it the noble Baroness’s understanding of Clause 12(2)(d) that, while there is an obligation to discuss the person’s wishes in the event of complications arising, there is no obligation to discuss exactly what those complications could be?
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
8 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I will speak to my Amendments 40 and 59. The changes I propose may seem puzzling or pedantic, but, when dealing with legislation about life and death, every word matters. My amendments aim to bring the same care for language to subsections (2) and (3) as is used in subsection (1), which se…
I thank the noble and learned Lord the sponsor for his response, and I agree with him on Clause 1(1), as I said. However, my amendment seeks to bring the same precise language to subsections (2) and (3), because the conditions are not set out in the same way as they are in subsection (1); they are m…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Amendment 178A would require that those who are seeking assisted suicide are referred to a consultant physician in palliative medicine, who will assess them fully and draw up a plan for care. The Bill recognises the importance of patients knowing about palliative care and being informed on the ch…
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I will say a few words in support of the amendment. I agree with the difficulty of categorising alarm in the same manner as harassment and distress. Harassment and distress can be objectively measured or distress objectively assessed, but when it comes to alarm, I think what noble Lords ha…
My Lords, I support the general aims of these amendments. I am broadly sympathetic to the group and I agree with the need to address the problem of honour-based abuse specifically. I understand that it will be a difficult matter, and not simple, to define it tightly. Some honour-based offences are c…
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
8 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords—
My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 30B, 220 and 265A in my name. They share the aim of other amendments in this group to ensure that the GP knows and has looked after the person who wants to end his or her life, but go beyond them in proposing the extent and length of the relationship needed and i…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for responding to the Statement. I will press a her little on how the arrangements for the coalition of the willing will work. The noble Baroness mentioned the three Cs —capability, co-ordination and command structure—but can she say more …
Lords
Debate
21 November 2025
3 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I support the amendments in this group. I am a research director at Politeia, a think tank that has commissioned a great deal of work from lawyers and academics, including on this subject, but I speak in my own capacity as a historian. I associate myself with the remarks of the noble Lord,…
I thank the noble Lord for the intervention but, if he will permit me, I would like to finish. We can imagine many different sorts of conversation. If noble Lords would like to hear more examples, I am sure they will ask for them.
None of these possibilities is ruled out by the Bill as it stands. T…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
14 November 2025
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I declare my registered interest as a trustee of St John & St Elizabeth Hospital in London.
The first clause sets the tone for the rest of the Bill. It has so many deficiencies and such inherent danger that it has rendered necessary the tabling of so many amendments. Multiple amendmen…
I respect the noble Baroness for repeating her speech. Section 3 of the Mental Capacity Act says that if a person is unable to
“understand the information relevant to the decision … to retain that information … to use or weigh that information ... or … to communicate his decision”,
then they do no…
Lords
Debate
5 November 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, my Amendment 35C aims to stop people who come to the UK on a student visa abandoning that route for an asylum claim. Today, I will explain why such an amendment is needed, and then I will respond to the objections made by the Minister, take account of them and explain why this amendment me…
May I press the Minister? If there are strong and perfectly amicable links between this country and the home country of a student who has blatantly failed to meet conditions and it is a perfectly amicable country, what does the noble Lord say to those in the country who would rightfully say, “Let th…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
30 October 2025
Extradition Act 2003 (Amendment to Designations) Order 2025
My Lords, I am very grateful to all the speakers. I thank the Minister for repeating the strong, hard processes that he believes are in place to protect Hong Kongers. I am also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, for agreeing that Hong Kongers need very specific protection, and for the…
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
Employment Rights Bill
Does the Minister accept, in talking about the impact on trade unions, that the position is now very different in terms of the historical context, given that union membership has shrunk to such a degree in the workplace that it is now more dominant in the public sector than in the productive private…