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Assisted Suicide

Secondary information

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

542 c1363-440 

Session

2010-12

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Proceeding contributions

Speaker | 542 c1363 (Link to this contribution) Before I call the hon. Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway) to move the motion, it may be usef...

Speaker | 542 c1416 (Link to this contribution) Order. To facilitate more Back-Bench contributions, the time limit is being reduced to four minutes....

Show all contributions (171)

Ian Jnr Paisley | 542 c1364 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has listed the matters that the debate is not about. Does he acknowledge that a l...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1363-4 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House welcomes the Director of Public Prosecutions' Policy for Prosecutors ...

David Burrowes | 542 c1364 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend opened the debate by saying, quite properly, that this was an issue not just for cour...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1364 (Link to this contribution) Let me say to the hon. Gentleman—for whom I have the highest regard—that it would be slightly naïve ...

Kelvin Hopkins | 542 c1364-5 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on addressing these issues so clearly and in such a measured way. ...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1364 (Link to this contribution) The guidelines—about which I shall say more in a moment—are a model of clarity. They reflect the way...

Paul Goggins | 542 c1370 (Link to this contribution) On five separate occasions my hon. Friend has talked about changing the law and about his desire to ...

David Winnick | 542 c1371 (Link to this contribution) I want the law changed, but that does not mean that if the time comes for a vote on the amendment I ...

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1371 (Link to this contribution) That response to that last intervention was helpful to the House. May I ask the hon. Gentleman kindl...

David Winnick | 542 c1371 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. I prefaced my remarks by saying that the DPP guidelines can be supported—the debate is a...

David Winnick | 542 c1372 (Link to this contribution) I think that we could all come to the same conclusion. Are we to take it that doctors in Oregon, Bel...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1372 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment (a), at the end of the Question to add,"'and invites the Government to consu...

David Winnick | 542 c1371-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a point that the hon. Lady, a medical doctor herself, has made with great sincerity. The Briti...

Paul Flynn | 542 c1372 (Link to this contribution) Many of us have had the experience, as have many people in other countries, of doctors saying to the...

John Pugh | 542 c1372 (Link to this contribution) It is clear that the DPP has discretion. How does placing something on a statutory footing show that...

David Burrowes | 542 c1372-4 (Link to this contribution) Would not one of the implications of the amendment, if it were passed, be to fetter the discretion o...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1374 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to give way again because I have used up my time for interventions. I am sorry but I ...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1374 (Link to this contribution) I completely disagree. First, the amendment invites the Government to consult, which could not possi...

Fiona Bruce | 542 c1374-5 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak to my amendment. I understand that although I ...

Speaker | 542 c1374 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am now going to call Fiona Bruce to speak to amendment (b), but it will not be moved at thi...

Robert Buckland | 542 c1375 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to organisations such as the Prospect hospice in my co...

Fiona Bruce | 542 c1375 (Link to this contribution) I will, and I pay tribute to the entire hospice movement in this country. The care and treatment of ...

Robert Halfon | 542 c1375 (Link to this contribution) I am proud to be supporting my hon. Friend's amendment today. Does she agree that this is not about ...

Fiona Bruce | 542 c1375 (Link to this contribution) I do, and that is entirely the intent of my amendment.

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1365 (Link to this contribution) That is a fair point, and some people think it does represent a change in the law. However, the guid...

Laurence Robertson | 542 c1365 (Link to this contribution) The guidance lists six circumstances in which prosecution would not take place. How does my hon. Fri...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1365 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: there is huge public support, and I shall talk about that sh...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 542 c1367 (Link to this contribution) How is it possible to be sure that somebody's motivation is entirely compassionate, and that they ar...

Steve Brine | 542 c1366 (Link to this contribution) I shall support the motion; indeed, I am a signatory to it. The DPP is merely doing his job. This Ho...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1366-7 (Link to this contribution) That is right. Returning to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson...

Bob Stewart | 542 c1366 (Link to this contribution) To date, have there been any cases, or suspected cases, of malicious assistance?

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1366 (Link to this contribution) As far as I am aware, there have been no prosecutions for escorting someone to Dignitas in Switzerla...

Richard Graham | 542 c1366 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend has pointed out, what we are debating is simply an interpretation of the law by th...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1366 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That approach is supported by many of our constituents. Compassi...

John Baron | 542 c1367 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is introducing the debate in a very measured way. I support greater patient choice at...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1367 (Link to this contribution) At the end of the day, that has to be a judgment made by the police and the prosecuting authorities....

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1367 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend allow me to intervene?

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1367 (Link to this contribution) Yes, it is about compassion for those facing an experience that, obviously, none of us has had. This...

Paul Maynard | 542 c1370 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making the point that one particular disabled individual should be given the r...

David Winnick | 542 c1370 (Link to this contribution) That is the very opposite of my view. As I said, I have supported every move to support the disabled...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1368 (Link to this contribution) This is the last time I give way.

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1368 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and may I say how much I welcome what is on his website, which expl...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1368-9 (Link to this contribution) I make no secret of the fact that the original motion included the words in the amendment, but in di...

David Winnick | 542 c1369-70 (Link to this contribution) It gives me much pleasure to second the motion moved by the hon. Member for Croydon South (Richard O...

Steve Brine | 542 c1422-3 (Link to this contribution) I will not say it is a pleasure to speak in this debate, because I am not sure that is the right wor...

John Baron | 542 c1423-4 (Link to this contribution) May I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway), who is ...

Anna Soubry | 542 c1422 (Link to this contribution) He has obviously not been through it!

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1422 (Link to this contribution) Well, I am told that it is. It is experienced by many of us doing things, whether we are talking abo...

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1421-2 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way again. It would have been better, if we had more time, if someone had read out a...

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1421 (Link to this contribution) It is not a question of whether I am satisfied; the question is: what is the purpose of the amendmen...

David Winnick | 542 c1421 (Link to this contribution) I am quite happy to support the amendment, if that would satisfy the hon. Gentleman.

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1421 (Link to this contribution) But when I asked one of the right hon. Lady's hon. Friends—the hon. Member for Walsall North (Mr Win...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1421 (Link to this contribution) I hate to repeat myself, but the amendment is absolutely clear. It suggests only that the Government...

Speaker | 542 c1430 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I gently suggest that the hon. Gentleman speak up a bit, because I think we all want to h...

John Glen | 542 c1428 (Link to this contribution) I want to open my contribution simply by saying that I endorse and support the DPP's published prose...

Nigel Mills | 542 c1428-9 (Link to this contribution) It is an honour to speak in a debate that has shown this House at its best, and I too congratulate m...

John Glen | 542 c1429 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful case, but in reality is it not the practical, individual decisio...

Nigel Mills | 542 c1429 (Link to this contribution) The point I am trying to make is that I am not sure whether it would be right for Parliament to list...

Bob Stewart | 542 c1426 (Link to this contribution) I do not understand how they would amend the Suicide Act. It is my understanding that it has not bee...

Robert Halfon | 542 c1425-6 (Link to this contribution) I wish to make three points. First, as the right hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Alun Mic...

Paul Maynard | 542 c1427-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a great honour to participate in this debate, and I pay tribute to those hon. Members who have...

Robert Halfon | 542 c1426-7 (Link to this contribution) My argument is that the guidelines are too flexible, and that Parliament has not had a decision abou...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 542 c1424-5 (Link to this contribution) We usually begin this sort of debate by congratulating the hon. Member who secured it, and that is u...

Guy Opperman | 542 c1433 (Link to this contribution) That is very helpful, because we would all concede that a consultation on putting in statutory guide...

Jeremy Lefroy | 542 c1433 (Link to this contribution) It is a great honour to follow the passionate speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Op...

Guy Opperman | 542 c1432 (Link to this contribution) There is a great need for strong protections. Everybody accepts that. Not a single person disagrees ...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1432-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman said that he would support the motion and amendment (b), on palliative care, as I...

Alun Michael | 542 c1430 (Link to this contribution) Does not the hon. Gentleman understand that the whole point is that a judgment has to be made on whe...

Nigel Mills | 542 c1430 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, Mr Speaker. I am full of a cold, and my throat is not quite as strong as I would like it...

Robert Halfon | 542 c1432 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to see my hon. Friend so strong and alive in this Chamber. He talks about choice. Does he ...

Guy Opperman | 542 c1431-2 (Link to this contribution) During the Budget debate last year, I collapsed in Central Lobby. It was not, I assure hon. Members,...

Martin Vickers | 542 c1430-1 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to take part in this important debate. As my ho...

Nigel Mills | 542 c1430 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. Parliament decided 50 years ago that all prosecutions sho...

Eric Ollerenshaw | 542 c1436-7 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that. Even though he is from Yorkshire, he seems to encapsulate exactly w...

Baroness Burt of Solihull | 542 c1437 (Link to this contribution) This is such a difficult subject for us to tackle, but whatever difficulties we in this House encoun...

Speaker | 542 c1437 (Link to this contribution) The last Back Bencher who has not spoken—I see him standing to speak—is the hon. Member for North Ea...

Rehman Chishti | 542 c1434 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that there are good examples of the community supporting the provision of ...

Penny Mordaunt | 542 c1434-5 (Link to this contribution) I would argue that whatever side of the assisted dying debate we are on, it has been helpful to cons...

Jeremy Lefroy | 542 c1434 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend and I entirely agree with him. In my constituency, we have the great work of ...

Penny Mordaunt | 542 c1435 (Link to this contribution) I do not have time. Whichever side of the debate we are on, we have to acknowledge the plight of th...

Nadine Dorries | 542 c1435 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Stuart Andrew | 542 c1436 (Link to this contribution) I had the pleasure of spending 12 years working in the hospice movement. This debate shows that we n...

Eric Ollerenshaw | 542 c1435-6 (Link to this contribution) Like others, I congratulate Members on the standard of debate. I think there is a saying from the To...

Naomi Long | 542 c1404 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is a subtle but important distinction between treatment tha...

Edward Leigh | 542 c1403-4 (Link to this contribution) I recognise that point of view and that is why, although I have expressed myself so far, some would ...

Heidi Alexander | 542 c1404-6 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to the brave and outstanding speech given by my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield C...

Edward Leigh | 542 c1404 (Link to this contribution) That is the point that I am trying to make, and that is the absolute principle that I hope this deba...

Paul Blomfield | 542 c1401-2 (Link to this contribution) This is not an easy contribution for me to make, and I have thought long and hard about it. My fathe...

Craig Whittaker | 542 c1400-1 (Link to this contribution) Some excellent points have been made on both sides of the argument, but no one has mentioned the eff...

David Winnick | 542 c1403 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. Every life is of value and the idea that because someone m...

Edward Leigh | 542 c1402-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) spoke with great emotion. Like his father, my...

Lord Field of Birkenhead | 542 c1400 (Link to this contribution) Nobody in this debate has said, in concrete terms, how making that move would better protect more vu...

Naomi Long | 542 c1413 (Link to this contribution) Several hon. Members have talked about the difficult decisions that people may face and the fact tha...

Jim Shannon | 542 c1412-3 (Link to this contribution) I support the amendment tabled by the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) and congratulate her o...

Andrew Turner | 542 c1411-2 (Link to this contribution) I rise to contribute to this very important debate. First, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Membe...

Paul Flynn | 542 c1410-1 (Link to this contribution) I will devote my time to reading a message that I received from a constituent who was unknown to me ...

David Amess | 542 c1415 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, who I know cared for her husband, and therefore has a real f...

Jim Shannon | 542 c1413-4 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for her wise words, with which I fully agree. When I was at school, history w...

John Healey | 542 c1407-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr Burrowes), who I think led the...

Ian Swales | 542 c1408-10 (Link to this contribution) I would welcome a debate about a change in the law on assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally co...

Caroline Lucas | 542 c1417-8 (Link to this contribution) They might be partly to do with that, but the Economist Intelligence Unit's research into palliative...

Fiona Bruce | 542 c1416 (Link to this contribution) Are those improvements not due to the progress made on scientific and medical developments in recent...

Anna Soubry | 542 c1418 (Link to this contribution) Would my hon. Friend go as far as some who would argue that it is not right or fair for Debbie to ha...

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 542 c1418 (Link to this contribution) I support the motion, and congratulate the hon. Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway) on securi...

Richard Drax | 542 c1419-20 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith). I commend m...

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 542 c1419 (Link to this contribution) I do agree, and I shall say more about that in a few moments. In fact, Debbie herself said at the ti...

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1420-1 (Link to this contribution) We can understand the individual cases that have been brought to the House this afternoon. There are...

Tony Baldry | 542 c1415-6 (Link to this contribution) Having heard pretty much all the speeches this afternoon, I think there is an almost unanimous conse...

Caroline Lucas | 542 c1416 (Link to this contribution) I very much welcome this debate, and I commend the Backbench Business Committee for giving it time, ...

Alun Michael | 542 c1395-7 (Link to this contribution) My starting point is that I want our law and our legal practice to be clear but flexible. In his exc...

Dan Poulter | 542 c1398 (Link to this contribution) I think that there is a clear distinction between allowing discretion for a prosecution that says ““...

Glyn Davies | 542 c1397-8 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker, for calling me to speak in this very important debate. It is a pleasure to fo...

Lord Field of Birkenhead | 542 c1398-9 (Link to this contribution) I wish to sound a note of dissent in this debate. Member after Member has risen to congratulate the ...

Glyn Davies | 542 c1398 (Link to this contribution) I firmly believe that assisting in suicide is wrong and should be a criminal offence, but, as with a...

Lord Field of Birkenhead | 542 c1399 (Link to this contribution) I certainly agree with all those points. Sadly, we do not live in the garden of Eden; we have been e...

Tom Clarke | 542 c1399 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that perhaps missing from the debate is a concern about the rights, ...

Lord Field of Birkenhead | 542 c1399-400 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely the situation that we have, and that situation has been clarified and developed fu...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 542 c1399 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman has enlivened the debate, but does he agree that although so...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1400 (Link to this contribution) I must make it absolutely clear to my right hon. Friend and the House that the amendment only asks t...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1380 (Link to this contribution) There is a growing confusion—perhaps it was there already—between the guidelines, which are the DPP'...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1380 (Link to this contribution) I am really grateful to the Solicitor-General for giving way. Will he just acknowledge that a future...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1379-80 (Link to this contribution) I suppose that it is a matter of attitude. I happen to think that the Government were elected to tak...

Steve Baker | 542 c1380 (Link to this contribution) Whereas the guidance at paragraph 6 is clear that it does not decriminalise the offence, if the rema...

Speaker | 542 c1383 (Link to this contribution) Order. I take it that the Solicitor-General is coming to the end of his speech, because we are up ag...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1380-2 (Link to this contribution) If a future DPP overturned the guidelines, he would be judicially reviewed for behaving in a rather ...

Fiona Bruce | 542 c1382 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely pleased to hear my hon. and learned Friend say that. It will build on what is a very ...

Emily Thornberry | 542 c1383-4 (Link to this contribution) I begin by congratulating the hon. Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway) not only on persuading...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1383 (Link to this contribution) With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will avoid answering my hon. Friend's question in order t...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 542 c1375 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Fiona Bruce | 542 c1375-6 (Link to this contribution) I will continue now, if I may, to allow for the many other speakers who want to speak this afternoon...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1378 (Link to this contribution) I listened to the right hon. Lady's speech and although I understood it, I am not convinced by her a...

Alun Michael | 542 c1378 (Link to this contribution) The Solicitor-General has come to a point that concerns me. Does he agree that passing the amendment...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1378 (Link to this contribution) I think that I am entitled to look at the amendment proposed by the right hon. Lady on its face valu...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1379 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that I will answer that question, because, to be honest, I am not entirely sure I und...

Ian Swales | 542 c1379 (Link to this contribution) Can the Solicitor-General think of another example where we expect people to commit a crime knowingl...

Ian Jnr Paisley | 542 c1393-4 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the comments made by the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry...

Nadine Dorries | 542 c1394-5 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) and to listen to him speak...

Naomi Long | 542 c1392 (Link to this contribution) I had the privilege of nursing my mother at home with the help of Marie Curie and the Macmillan nurs...

Mark Menzies | 542 c1392-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a very important point and, when she was nursing her mother and was in a state o...

Jim Fitzpatrick | 542 c1391-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a powerful point. I am sure all Members in the Chamber will have read the briefi...

Mark Menzies | 542 c1392 (Link to this contribution) I did not originally plan to take part in today's debate, but such is the range of emotion and also ...

Jim Fitzpatrick | 542 c1390-1 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock (Stephen Metcalfe). ...

Speaker | 542 c1389 (Link to this contribution) Order. I call Mr Stephen Metcalfe.

Stephen Metcalfe | 542 c1389-90 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for inviting me to speak so early in this important debate, which was ...

Emily Thornberry | 542 c1385-6 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to apportion any motives one way or the other to people who want to be involved in the...

Glenda Jackson | 542 c1386 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, but equally she should not attribute too much to the Commissio...

Emily Thornberry | 542 c1386 (Link to this contribution) I take on board the points that my hon. Friend makes, but they do not sway me from my path, which is...

John Pugh | 542 c1386-8 (Link to this contribution) This is an issue where life, rather than logic, will change people's minds, but I will have to rely ...

Emily Thornberry | 542 c1384-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady, who in fact takes me to my next point, which is that no one could fa...

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1385 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is helping the debate. If the Government were forced to hold such a consultation, woul...

Emily Thornberry | 542 c1385 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman, too, anticipates what I am going to say next, because having clarified what I be...

Peter Bottomley | 542 c1385 (Link to this contribution) The unofficial commission started, it might fairly be described, with a majority of commissioners wh...

Caroline Lucas | 542 c1384 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree, however, that the essence of the Director of Public Prosecution's advice i...

Jim Dobbin | 542 c1388-9 (Link to this contribution) Let me say at the outset that I am prepared to accept the motion tabled by the hon. Member for Croyd...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 542 c1438 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much, Mr Speaker; patience is rewarded in this important debate. I will make my own p...

Anna Soubry | 542 c1438 (Link to this contribution) A constituent of mine has written to me at length and with great feeling on this subject. He is a br...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 542 c1438-9 (Link to this contribution) We have to legislate for everybody, not just for my hon. Friend's most able constituents. We have to...

Jim Fitzpatrick | 542 c1439 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that the public interest criteria laid down by the Director of Pu...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 542 c1439 (Link to this contribution) The Director of Public Prosecutions has indeed set out those guidelines, but can he be certain of pe...

Richard Ottaway | 542 c1439-40 (Link to this contribution) In the 24 years for which I have been a Member of Parliament, I have witnessed many dramatic debates...

Sarah Wollaston | 542 c1371 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that such an approach would change a fundamental principle, which ...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1372 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, if the existing guidelines were put into statute they would lie alongside existing statute....

Anne Main | 542 c1414-5 (Link to this contribution) Not only does the law protect the vulnerable who might be dying or at the end of their lives, it als...

David Amess | 542 c1414 (Link to this contribution) The House has certainly been at its best today, with some remarkable speeches being made. I enjoyed ...

Lord Garnier | 542 c1376-7 (Link to this contribution) I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway) on initiatin...

Guy Opperman | 542 c1379 (Link to this contribution) I make a declaration as a former criminal prosecutor. It was frequently said that we were often cons...

David Burrowes | 542 c1406-7 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the debate initiated by my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway). I r...

Joan Ruddock | 542 c1378 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister. I want to take him up on that point, because he has made the seminal ...

Anna Soubry | 542 c1391 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what the hon. Gentleman says. Does he agree that there are some people who, by ...

Subjects

Crown Prosecution Service Aiding and abetting Euthanasia Prosecutions Suicide Purdy, Debbie

Link

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