Naz Shah MP: speeches

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Speeches

12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend makes a very important point—because if we visit this issue afterwards, that person is dead.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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The issue for us in the conversation on this amendment is that we have talked about coercion, undue pressure, undue influence, encouragement and all that, but we have not talked about the benefit to others. It is simply a different conversation; it is about understanding that a person has been coerced and so on, but also for what reason. What is the benefit to others? That is my understanding of the amendment, and that is why I am speaking to and supporting it. Unfortunately, the Bill as it stands does not have all the necessary safeguards for all those who see themselves as burdens to others, and that is why I support the amendment.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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Okay, I am happy to turn back to the amendment. This issue is far too serious for us to overlook. I do not believe that many people, including medical professionals, are properly trained to recognise coercion or undue influence. To illustrate, I will refer back to my own experiences, like I did yesterday. I have had many unfortunate experiences in my life, but they have certainly prepared me for this space. I was forced into a marriage at the age of 15. I was 12 when I went to Pakistan, and although I was not physically bound or coerced in an overtly aggressive way, I was coerced none the less. I made the decision not for my own sake but for the benefit of others. At the time, I did not think for myself but for the benefit of my extended family members. It was clearly not my choice, and I understand that now. The power of influence from people we often trust and rely on in our everyday lives, especially when seeking their advice, can often lead to life-changing consequences. In the case of the Bill, it would be life-ending consequences. In my forced marriage, and in those of others, because they do happen up and down the country, we can look back and realise what led us to make decisions that were neither in our best interests nor of our own choosing. Although my marriage occurred when I was under age, many people are coerced into forced marriages even in their late 20s and 30s for the benefit of others. The burden of holding family relations together, making other people happy and seeking approval can push a person into a forced marriage—something they never wanted. In my case, it was about keeping relationships between siblings and extended family intact, and the pressure fell on me, as a 15-year-old child. But me being 15 then is beside the point; the fact is that this happens today.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I am sure my hon. Friend did not mean to suggest it in that way, but I feel slightly taken aback by the questioning of whether I understand the importance of this. I remind hon. Members that nobody in this room has had a forced marriage apart from me. That does not mean to say that they do not have empathy when I share my experience. To suggest—
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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Earlier, the hon. Member gave some examples of subtle encouragement or undue influence. If an elderly person has only one living relative, and they could benefit from their will, the encouragement could be so subtle. They could say to their dad or mum, “This an option available for you,” and not necessarily encourage or talk about palliative care. I know that is a conversation we will come to when we discuss later amendments, but this particular point is about people being driven in a certain direction, and that is so subtle. As a mother to my children, I encourage them to do certain things, because I want to have that control over their behaviour because they are children. It is a normal thing to do. But when it comes to life or death, as a responsible parent it is my job to get them to think like I do or how I want to shape them. I think it is that subtle. Does the hon. Member agree that it is so subtle that sometimes we have to put it into the letter of the law to make sure it is there consciously, as opposed to expecting people subconsciously to understand the words “under coercion”?
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I am grateful that we have been able to have this conversation as we have done. I share my hon. Friend’s concern. Equally, I am also concerned that we may now not have a judge’s oversight on this. There is potentially an amendment seeking to replace that with a panel of experts, which we will not get to debate until we have seen it. Returning to amendment 94, tabled by the right hon. Member for Braintree, I have already talked about Professor Allan House’s contribution. The importance of the issue is not lost on the House. This includes people who do not want to take up their children’s time. As the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley suggested, there is that conversation to be had with families, no doubt. We speak from the privileged position of being able to have those conversations. In an ideal world, we would all be equal, but we are not.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I thank the Minister greatly for his explanation. I am trying to separate the two points. I appreciate the role of both Ministers in providing the Committee with that guidance, as many of us are new to the process. What I am trying to understand, with respect to the amendment from the right hon. Member for Braintree, which I just talked about, is that the Government have asserted a view that the language included would create uncertainty.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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If we are talking about welfare, I would have thought that this Bill would have included welfare checks, which are absolutely crucial. My definition of welfare encompasses the whole being, with the person at the centre. In this case, welfare would mean putting somebody with a terminal diagnosis at the centre of what service provision looks like, be it for assisted dying or a care pathway through palliative care.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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Can I come back to the amendment?
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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It is very much in support of that, and I want to tease out what my hon. Friend just said, which is important. One conversation we are having is about being a burden—my hon. Friend referred to the evidence that we heard—but another side to that is that when people feel like a burden, somebody benefits from that. That benefit is what the amendment teases out. That is what I want to understand.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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The hon. Member makes a valid point that it would ultimately benefit others. It would—that is a given—but that was not my reading of the way the amendment is drafted. My reading was that “only for your own benefit” means that someone is not being driven by the benefit of others, financial or otherwise. From the point of view of autonomy, if someone chooses to make that decision, of course others will benefit. I take the point that there appears to be a contradiction, but that is not my understanding of how the amendment is written and it is not what I am talking about.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for his valuable intervention. He speaks from his personal experience, and this place and this debate are richer for having those experiences shared. It comes back to the comment made by the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley; this is about where there is autonomy. This is about people who make that informed choice without coercion, loss of autonomy, undue influence or encouragement. We are talking about those people; we are not talking about those who do not fall into that category. Those of us in this House know of inequalities that exist in our communities for disabled people, women, or people with mental health illnesses. We already know that; this is about safeguarding and making sure that we are exploring the reasons why, to safeguard those who do arrive at those conclusions—at that decision of autonomy—so that, should this Bill be passed and become law in two years, we as a Committee will know that we have tried our hardest and our best to support my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley to make it the safest Bill in the world.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I agree with my hon. Friend’s point. We are not dealing with capacity in this amendment, but I agree that every one of these extra checks and balances would also support the exploration of capacity and would definitely strengthen those conversations with any patient. The amendment tabled by the right hon. Member for Braintree would not be a perfect safeguard. As we know in this House and across society, nothing, including legislation, is absolutely foolproof. There will be people where, despite the best efforts of the NHS, despite having palliative care and despite having people in these positions, things will be missed. Unfortunately, that happens. Before I make my closing remarks, I want to come back to where I started—forced marriage. We heard from Dr Jamilla about inequalities and how to spot coercion. There is an added layer to all of this when it comes to women, and also when it comes to people from ethnic minority backgrounds, who already have an inherent distrust, which was magnified during covid. When it comes to domestic violence, we also know it is harder to spot the coercion, because of the conditioning and the cultural conditioning. My personal conditioning was very different, and it took me until my 30s—years into my adulthood—to recognise it and call it out, despite being an active campaigner against domestic abuse and having access to amazing campaigners in the UK. Going back to Dr Jamilla, some of the conversation she has been having around this issue is about people having that distrust. Coming back to the amendment, we must be able to point out—to draw out—that “benefit of others”. It is harder to spot, so there have to be safeguards. This amendment, and all the amendments we have talked about today, would benefit the Bill; they would strengthen it. They would in no way, as the Government have suggested, weaken or confuse it or the people applying it.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I am happy to give way if my hon. Friend wants to elaborate.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is right, but the point I am trying to come back to is to do with those people who feel a burden; wherever they feel a burden, somebody is benefiting from that, because we are taking the burden away—there is ultimately a benefit to somebody. We have talked a lot about people feeling a burden in terms of potential coercion, potential financial issues and all those things, but we have not discussed this in detail. It is important that we do so if we are to make this Bill, as my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley intends, the safest Bill in the world. It is incumbent on us to look at both sides. Just like in the earlier debate about whether we choose assisted dying or choose to take out the plug, ultimately the end is the same—it is death—but they are two different things. The amendment tabled by the right hon. Member for Braintree is very much about the question of who is benefiting from the person taking that decision.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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The hon. Member makes valid point. Maybe the Government would be able to mop this up if this amendment was accepted. That can happen—it is not beyond the scope of Government or the Ministers present.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I want to understand the Minister’s point about multiple words. We have the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, referring to both coercion and pressure, and undue influence is also included. Those three terms are used in the same Act. Undue influence is also included in multiple additional statutes—over 10, including the Anatomy Act 1984, which is about people leaving their body to medicine for the purposes of tests and so on. Is the Minister saying that those are bad Acts, because they could confuse people? That is the test we are applying.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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Let me finish. Perhaps my hon. Friend did not mean to question whether I understand and appreciate it, but it suggests to me, does anybody? Yes, we heard witnesses. We heard evidence. I have heard about it in my own friendship circles. I had a young intern with me not so long ago who had cancer. We talked about this, when I decided to come on to this Bill Committee. A dear friend of mine lost her husband and asked me to support this Bill because of his experiences. I speak to doctors regularly. I have had one parent who died of cancer; the other survived cancer. I have had recent deaths; my own father was in a hospice, and others were in a hospice. To be really clear, I do not think the importance of autonomy is lost on any Member on this Committee or in the House. It is because of that importance that I agreed to take part in this Committee.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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That speaks to my earlier point, where I was seeking clarification. I find that I feel very uncomfortable with this process, where the Government are very clearly taking a position, without having an impact assessment in place, on whether the previous amendments and the ones I am talking about would confuse the courts or create uncertainty. Perhaps the Minister can provide clarification, but my interpretation is that the Government are taking a view, not just sharing the position of the Government.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I rise to speak to support the amendment in the name of the right hon. Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly), because I believe there is a need to include it in the Bill to ensure real protections against coercion. Before I get to the substantive nub of the conversation, I want to understand something that I have just experienced. Again, the Chair might want to guide me and I am happy to take guidance. I am trying to understand this because we are all relatively new to the process, as is the Minister who responded earlier, the hon. and learned Member for Finchley and Golders Green. It appeared to me that the Government had a position on the amendments that were tabled. I recognise that my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley has set out that that is how debates happen, but actually, that is not my experience of how amendments are tabled in this House. We have notice of amendments. They are not tabled on the day, apart from manuscript amendments. They are tabled before the House rises, which gives us enough time to respond to those amendments, take advice on them and so on.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I beg to move amendment 94, in clause 1, page 1, line 20, at end insert “, and (c) is acting for their own sake rather than for the benefit of others.” This amendment requires that a person requesting assistance must be acting for their own sake, not the benefit of others. This amendment reflects the proposed changes in Amendments 95 to 104.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I am happy to debate, Mrs Harris, but I am trying to understand because this is new to me. If I speak to the amendment and the Minister already has a position, I would value knowing that position, because otherwise it feels pointless for me to debate it.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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I appreciate the clarification and the explanation. I do not feel that having doctors doing this is a contradiction of this Bill at all, because if we go by the letter of the Bill and how it is set out, when a doctor offers those choices, whether it is assisted dying or palliative care, they are giving a choice of welfare options to their patients. That is my understanding, and I am not sure that this is contradicts with the Bill in any way, shape or form. I have answered my hon. Friend’s first question; can he remind me of his second?
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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If we make philosophical and idealistic arguments, we will not be able to legislate on anything. Philosophically, there are people in this House who wear red, blue, green or the colours of smaller parties. We are all different in our positions philosophically. For me, this process is about legislating as well as we can to put safeguards in place that are as strong as possible. I cannot get into that debate because it would not apply to the legal aspect.
12 Feb 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Eleventh sitting) · Hansard source
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But in sticking to the amendment—

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