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Assisted Dying

My Lords, I see no reason for another inquiry, having been aware of the six-month Select Committee and the detailed debates that have followed. The press has recently highlighted a small number of assisted suicide cases, and an inquiry, if it took place, could lead to a change in the law. Enabling laws have a habit of encouraging the acts that they enable; that is, after all, one of the reasons why they are made. It is all very well to talk of safeguards, but if you read the facts rather than the spin—about what is happening in Oregon, for example—you will see that so-called safeguards do not work as the campaigners claim. With the law as it stands, we have the best of both worlds: deterrence combined with compassion. Palliative care, end-of-life care, has the Government’s focus at present. We would be well advised not to tinker.