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Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 16 January 2026

Debate

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Contribution

My Lords, I will speak, given that we are going to continue until 5.30 pm and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, has mentioned me. The problem with removing the word “dying” is that it does not give to the public the absolutely key bit of information, which is that these people are dying anyway. We are talking only about people who are dying. That is what the Bill is about: people who have less than six months to live. They are dying. We may have a theological belief that we are all dying, and that each day we get nearer to that, but let us put that to one side. The removal of the word “dying” would be the worst way to tell people what this Bill is about. The Bill is not about assisted suicide for someone who just decides that they want to commit suicide or have a suicide death—I do not like the word “commit”. It is not about people who suddenly say that they want to commit suicide because of this, that or the other. We are talking only about a cohort of people who are dying; remove that from the Bill and it is less likely to be understood.
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