Dame Siobhain McDonagh

Its potential is to alter everything in a very undemocratic manner. In this very Chamber, Nye Bevan told us that the NHS would “lift the shadow from millions of homes...keep very many people alive who might otherwise be dead...relieve suffering...produce higher standards for the medical profession” and “be a great contribution towards the wellbeing of the common people”.—[Official Report, 30 April 1946; Vol. 422, c. 63.] We have a duty in this place to defend that promise. We cannot allow the promise to be reworded without the full voice of Parliament. We owe it to the public, to patients and to the NHS staff who dedicate their lives to this service, to stand firm and protect what is sacred. The amendment is simple but its impact is profound. It would ensure that any future changes to the core principles of the NHS must be debated openly, transparently and with the full consent of every Member—no short cuts, no sidestepping, no ministerial overreach. I urge colleagues across the House to support amendment 12, to stand with our NHS and with the people it serves. I urge my side—the Labour side—not to allow the assisted dying Bill to be the trojan horse that breaks the NHS, the proudest institution and the proudest measure introduced by our party in 120 years.