Dr Marie Tidball

My decision to support the Bill on Second Reading was one of the hardest I have ever had to make. It required me to go into the very depths of myself and draw on my experience as a child in excruciating pain, as well as the extensive poignant experiences shared with me by my constituents. As I said then, my support was conditional on specific changes being made to the Bill in Committee. I am pleased to say that all those changes have been made. As a member of the Committee, I can tell the House that it was the most extraordinary cross-party deliberative process I have ever witnessed in my 20 years of analysing legislation as an academic and policy researcher working in disability law and policy. In Committee, I worked to strengthen the voices of disabled people, and their protection under the Bill. I moved motions to introduce clause 20 on independent advocates and clause 44, which would create a disability advisory board. These provisions are augmented today by amendments 75 and 91, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater). Clause 20 would establish the role of independent advocate. They would advocate for qualifying persons who engage with the Bill, so that those persons can effectively understand their options around end of life care. This would empower disabled people to be treated with the dignity and respect that we deserve. These independent advocates would be required to undertake specialist training, and would be available regardless of whether the individual is ultimately found to be eligible to request an assisted death.