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Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 March 2026

Debate

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Contribution

In relation to the point from the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, that there should be an absolute exclusion on interpreters under 18, she makes the point that in a case involving, for example, a person under 18 who is the child of somebody going through an assisted death, it would be wholly inappropriate for them to have to deal with that. Again, I do not think we should provide for that in the Bill. It should be dealt with by code of practice. I can envisage circumstances in which somebody who is terminally ill and who does not speak English is comfortable only with their 17 year-old child being the interpreter, so I would be not in favour of an absolute exclusion in those circumstances.

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