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Assisted Dying

My Lords, a call for an inquiry is not a rush generated by media hysteria: it is a balanced way of saying, "Let us look at all the issues and arguments and proceed sensibly and slowly". Public opinion is on our side; it wants a change and the pressure is there. We in Parliament ought to be very careful before we say that public opinion has no right to have its voice heard in this House. Of course an inquiry must look hard at the safeguards; of course it must look, in the words of the MS Society, at all "choice in death" issues, including the relationship of palliative care to other aspects. I would not wish to deny to others something that I would want for myself. I believe that very strongly. Some time ago, someone I knew who had motor neurone disease, begged me to support a change in the law.