Contribution
My Lords, I am wholly in agreement with the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, and my noble friend Lord Deben, that greater clarity, both from the promoter of the Bill and from the Front Bench, would assist the Committee in making sure its mind could be made up on these delicate issues.
The noble Lord, Lord Birt, used to be my boss when I was a junior journalist at the BBC; I owe him a great deal. In framing this amendment, he has shown that a fine line, by insisting on speed and precision, can show us just what expedited delivery of a public service can achieve. If only the skill with which the noble Lord, Lord Birt, has ensured that the ratchet moves forward at speed in this legislation had been applied, for example, to our planning system, or to any of the other areas where government is laggard and failing. As the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, pointed out, if the same degree of precision had been applied to the operation of our courts and tribunals, we would not need to be contemplating the end of trial by jury.
However, in putting forward this proposition, I fear that the noble Lord, Lord Birt, is guilty of falling prey to two fallacies. The first is the Gadarene swine fallacy: the idea that, because so many are moving in one direction, we must follow expeditiously. He cited the fact that Jersey has voted for a form of assisted dying, and we are aware the debates are carrying on in Scotland and Wales. I shall not go into the devolutionary and union ramifications of those debates here—we will return to those later; they are critically important. But, as was pointed out by the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, the arc of history does not bend in any one particular direction, and certainly not in the direction that the noble Lord, Lord Birt, wishes to see it bend. We have been reminded this week that Denmark can say no to being told what to do by others, not just in geopolitics but in other areas as well. What we can learn from Denmark, and indeed from the French Senate, is that the consideration of the detail of legislation matters.
The other fallacy which was inherent in his speech is the Robespierre fallacy: the belief that one can discern and interpret the general will and then push in a particular direction. As we have heard on the Floor of this House, opinion polling on the question of assisted dying gives us almost the conclusions that we might want to have. I was struck by the opinion polling cited in the British Medical Journal, cited by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, which pointed out that the majority of those asked, when they were compelled to share what they thought assisted dying meant, thought that it either meant the withdrawal of existing treatment at a particular point, at the request of the patient, or improved palliative care. Of course, the noble Lord, Lord Markham, cited other opinion polling as well, but the critical thing is that opinion polling points in different directions. It causes me concern. But it is the purpose of this House and the purpose of legislators here not to attempt to discern the general will and to enact it, but to look at specific legislation and to decide whether it is fit for purpose.
That takes me to another point about the assisted dying help service: a question for the promoter of this amendment, the noble Lord, Lord Birt, for the promoter of the Bill, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, and for the Front Bench. It is undoubtedly the case that, if the amendment standing in his name and the name of the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, were agreed, the process would accelerate, relative to that which is contained within the Bill. Yet, at the same time, it is the case that a new service is being set up, which, as a number of colleagues here have pointed out, might draw resources away from other aspects of the NHS. How is it possible that a service that is set up explicitly to accelerate, to be a concierge service in that way, will also attract, be staffed and operate in a way which ensures that at every point, objective, neutral, balanced advice is offered? Is it not in the very nature of this service that those staffing it—and one has to ask who would volunteer or would be paid for that role—would become engineers of a particular purpose? Is it not the case that those who would move towards recruitment in this area would be people who would be motivated I am sure from the best and most idealistic of motives, but those who would want to advance the path to death and accelerate suicide rather than incur reflection?
That takes me to a question for the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, who might say that this is an amendment from the Back Benches, not something that he has been party to and that we as the Committee might consider it overall. He might well say that he has his own timetable in this legislation to which he is attached, which he would like us to pay particular attention to as we reflect on the Bill. But the question for the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, is: if he could, would he back the amendment of the noble Lords, Lord Birt and Lord Pannick? Is he in sympathy with the desire to accelerate this process? It is not enough for him to say, “Look, I haven’t put this forward”. The key question is: if he is in sympathy, will he say so, and if not, why not? If he believes he is not in sympathy, is that because he thinks it is right that there should be appropriate, greater reflection, and that there is something momentous about this decision? Is it also right that he believes that this would mean a diversion of resources?