---

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

I have enormous sympathy with the proposition of the noble Lord, Lord Patel. I had the privilege of serving with him and others on the pre-legislative scrutiny committee. Part of that privilege meant that we had time to try to be wise. If I may say so, I find that I need more time to consider the relationship between the ethical issue of consent and the undoubtedly huge significance, both scientifically and medically, of all that the noble Lords, Lord Patel and Lord Winston, said. I therefore support the noble Baroness, Lady Jay, in asking whether it is possible—and let me please repeat that I have enormous sympathy about this—for the House to find some way of bringing wisdom to this. Can we quietly and with a degree of ethical finesse come to a mind and say, ““Yes, we can wholeheartedly support this”” as opposed to feeling, ““Gosh, I wish we had had more time to think about it—and until the letter appeared in the Times, it had not really crossed my radar””? Without in any way wanting to stop what the noble Lord, Lord Patel, is proposing, I support the noble Baroness, Lady Jay, in saying, ““Can we somehow have a means of thinking this through in greater detail and with more wisdom in the future?””.