Member

There is a third reason for that. I do not normally lose my temper, but I did last week when, over lunch, I discovered that my local health authority had removed £176,000 from Marie Curie, which meant that it was then unable to provide overnight care for people in real difficulty. That reminds me of the fundamental issue that we face: where do we put our resources? We must not confuse assisted suicide with palliative care. We must ask ourselves this: if we have limited resources, what is the argument for spending about 40% of the cost of hospices and 100% of the cost of assisted dying? How does one put those two things together morally, let alone practically? Even if you are prepared to say that this is such a priority that you can spend £31 million on it, the one thing you have to have is a clear distinction between those choices.