Baroness Mattinson (Lab)

My Lords, it is important that we, as an unelected Chamber, focus on what the public think. Over the last few months, we have heard opponents of the Bill suggest that it lacks public support; I want to correct the record on that. The most recent British Social Attitudes survey—which is, by the way, the highly-regarded bible that tracks longitudinal public attitudes—was published in March, and it shows that an overwhelming eight out of 10 of us support changing the law to enable assisted dying. This powerful evidence is consistent across respected public polling and across age, gender, region and political attitudes. It is also consistent among those with disabilities, those who profess a religion and those who work in the medical professions. Data modelling by the polling organisation More in Common reveals that support far outweighs opposition in every constituency in Britain. But do not take my word for this. Polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice observed recently that the picture of public support for assisted dying was “one of remarkable stability and near consensus in public attitudes”, while another senior and highly respected pollster, Peter Kellner, says: “Having reported, commissioned and conducted polls for more than half a century, I cannot think of another major social controversy where the public mood has been so settled and so emphatic”. Both pollsters, in my experience, place the very highest value on presenting an objective and truthful representation of people’s views. Those views are not just widespread and consistently held in favour of assisted dying; they are also heartfelt. They are not theoretical but drawn from painful personal experience, and many of those stories—