Mims Davies MP: speeches

Speeches

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  Let me make some progress. I have four main concerns: funding, the assessment process, the lack of institutional opt-outs and, crucially, the auto-commencement clause. Can we all look our local NHS teams in the eye, knowing that we are ultimately taking more resources from them? The equality impact assessment explicitly acknowledges the impact on disabled people and those from ethnic minorities—people we often speak about in this place, because we are the ones who can speak up for them. This Bill is at odds with that. There is much more I would like to say, but I need to conclude. This Bill, although well intentioned, is simply a mixture of naivety, idealism and wishful thinking. There is no delivery plan, and it greatly raises the hopes of our constituents in their hour of need for care, good support and understanding. We are being asked to send this Bill back to the other place and perhaps to use the Parliament Act to force it through, regardless of its fitness for purpose and with full knowledge of its flaws and lack of workability, just to get it done. However, that means we are not listening even to the doctors who have spoken in this place today. I cannot subscribe to this type of lawmaking, no matter how well intentioned. I am grateful that we are talking about life and death, end-of-life care and the value we put on people and loved ones. We are fighting for better palliative care, and we are doing what we can to give people all they need as death approaches. However, I cannot in good faith support an unsafe private Member’s Bill or the process we are undertaking today.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  Absolutely; we are here to make good laws. Today’s vote, as we have heard, is not simply on the principle of the Bill, but on the detail—or, frankly, the lack of detail. Good intentions are not enough. We are voting not on what we want to happen because of the Bill, but on what will happen. We cannot continue to divorce it from reality. It will have an impact right across Government and our communities, and intertwine us swiftly in new challenges. Too often in this place, we have good intentions but no delivery plan. We cannot continue in that way. The Bill’s sponsor in the other place felt the need to bring forward 70 amendments of his own.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  There is no issue of conscience more capable of dividing constituents, families or, indeed, this House, than that of assisted dying. We can all agree that no one wants to suffer unnecessarily at the end of their life, and that no one wants to witness their loved ones suffering. We are all here in this place doing what we believe is best to achieve that end. This debate means that the subject of death as a process is again out of the shadows, where we as a society have thrust it over many years. We have been unwilling to confront our own mortality, avoiding difficult discussions even with our own families until reality finally hits us, as it does—we just do not know how. It is a truth that the death of a loved one, and our own inevitable decline, can sometimes arrive with real fear, real pain and, sadly, too much unnecessary and unsupported suffering, but it does come to us all. It would be wiser for us to be ready to face it, to prepare for it and to be able to live with it as individuals, as families and as a society. For those of us here today as lawmakers, the reality is that a change can happen in all our lives—whether a bolt from the blue, an accident, an incident, a tragedy, a violent attack, a diagnosis or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time—that can mean life changes in an instant. Who you are, what you are capable of and what your life is now and onwards comes into focus. My dad’s life and that of my family changed in an instant. He was attacked at work. Punches were thrown and he fell and hit his head on the kerb. He was saved by a passing man on his lunch break with first aid training. I was 11. Dad did not recognise us for several months. The financial impact was that we eventually lost our home, our family business and the surety that his hard work had given us. Disablement can begin at birth, it can be acquired or it can come with a health condition—all determining what happens next. Yet we are legislating potentially to fundamentally change every person’s relationship with the state, their doctor and the NHS, depending on their health, their preparedness for what is next and the support they may or may not have. Over the past two years, I have listened carefully to my colleagues from all parts of the House who have made personal arguments for and against. I have read the many briefings sent to me by charities, organisations, groups and representatives from right across our society. I have heard, too, from 1,000 or so of my constituents, who I thank deeply for sharing their own stories and thoughts. I have reflected back on my own experience, and that of my father, friends and loved ones, as one does when one witnesses an accident or incident, a health condition or, eventually, the death of a loved one. We know that many people are fighting for—and come to this place to fight for—better lives, better treatment, updated drugs, better knowledge and empathy. They often live longer, and push to live longer, than the initial prognosis they have been given. My father lived a longer life than my mum, who became his main carer. She had previously worked with disabled young adults, helping them into work and helping them to thrive. As someone who previously had the honour of being the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, I roundly appreciate that some of our most vulnerable often feel under-acknowledged, undervalued, unheard and screened out of life and work in wider society. In that role, I had to learn not base policymaking on my own thoughts and my own family experiences, but to put good lawmaking at the heart of what I did. People must not feel pressured, worthless or subject to coercion, defined solely by what they cannot do. My dad too often felt worthless. Long term, he felt less of a man, no longer a provider or a business owner. He went back to his farming roots, but a head and neck injury meant that that was not sustainable. An unseen disability saw him succumb to early onset dementia, with trauma-induced epilepsy and diabetes. He far too often felt he was worth more to us dead than alive. That was long before social media and the additional pressure that that entails. I therefore believe, sadly, that this process is completely wrong. It is wrong to use the vehicle of this Bill to bring forward such societal consequence and change—changing the relationship between patient and doctor, and individual and state, and changing significantly the connection we all have with the NHS.

• 2 Sept 2026 · Strengthening the Union · Hansard source

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  I welcome the right hon. Gentleman to his place and wish him and his team well in this important role. As a former Health Minister working on the NHS in England for the past two years, he will know the challenge of tackling hospital waiting times in the face of rising corridor care. As I think we have heard from the Secretary of State, the time for devolving and forgetting has long since passed, and all nations in our precious Union need fair treatment. Will the Secretary of State do more than simply watch from the sidelines—like his predecessor, sadly—and instead take action for the people of Wales, who have been waiting far too long for proper care under devolution?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Strengthening the Union · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for his answer, but if being devolved means not being able to get involved when things go wrong, that is the reason the Welsh NHS is in the mess it is. I want to raise something important for our Union and for the people of Wales. A significant ITV Wales investigation uncovered 28 prevention of future death reports over a 16-month period relating to the scandal-hit Betsi Cadwaladr university health board. [ Interruption. ] The House might want to listen. North Wales resident David Jones tragically lost his wife and father there. He is angry. He has accused the UK Labour Government of failing victims and their families by not intervening and leaving them in limbo. Will the Secretary of State use the Inquiries Act 2005 and seek accountability?

• 16 Jul 2026 · Local Government Reorganisation · Hansard source

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  What chaos in Sussex! The West Sussex decision has been delayed, and splitting East Sussex is okay according to the Secretary of State. My constituency is the only one that covers both East and West Sussex in its current form. It is a dog’s breakfast. It is unclear on special educational needs and disabilities and adult social care. In the letter sent to me today there was no clarity on the Sussex mayoralty. There is uncertainty on elections. The one thing that is certain is that Labour and Lib Dem proposals are priorities. Why have the Secretary of State and this Department shifted so far from the initial proposals that we in Sussex considered in good faith? Surely that explains why so many people feel that this is such a huge mess.