Speeches by Kruger.

“I will be grateful if the Minister or the hon. Member for Spen Valley can explain the situations in which behaviour criminalised by clause 26(2) would not also amount to an offence under section 2 of the Suicide Act, as amended, or indeed to murder. What behaviour would be criminalised here that is not already criminal…”

“I support the principle of insisting that inducing people by dishonesty, coercion or pressure to kill themselves should be illegal, but my understanding is that it already is. If it is not illegal, or if there are circumstances in which we need this additional offence that are not already captured by the Suicide Act or…”

“That is helpful and makes sense. The only justification for duplication must be that the duplication is only partial, which the Minister has just suggested it is. Not a complete overlap—some cases will fall into one category, but not into the other. I wonder if she could help us to understand with an example that would…”

“I respect the difficulty of the position that the Minister is in, but I am afraid that we have to consider hypothetical scenarios, because we are creating law. Does she acknowledge that, even if she cannot imagine, or cannot suggest to us, a case that falls under the provisions of this clause, but is not caught by the …”

“I acknowledge the point that the Minister is making. To the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Hampshire, we are talking not about two categories of offence within the same legal framework, namely GBH, but about two different legal frameworks altogether, the law of homicide and the law on assi…”

“I am sorry; I mis-spoke. I should have said that we have ruled out clarifying the expectations of what doctors should do in the event of an assisted death, and whether or not that is specified by the patient. Earlier today, the Committee again ruled out specifying what the obligations on doctors are if complications ar…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for explaining the purpose of the amendments. Amendment 500 specifies the information that a final statement must contain. Will she clarify why there is no requirement to record any details of what happened once the drugs were administered, other than the time between the use of the approved subst…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“The hon. Lady is right that there is no other agency that is appropriate. The difficulty is that the MHRA is itself highly conflicted—we will come in due course to discuss the role of the profit motive in this mooted procedure—and the big problem is that it is overwhelmingly funded by the pharmaceutical companies. We h…”

“The hon. Lady puts her finger on the tension—my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate and I expressed it as well—about whether it is appropriate to give the health regulator responsibility for regulating a product that is about not health, but death. Does the hon. Lady agree that no other agency would be appropriate, give…”

“I entirely agree. The regulations need to specify not only what drugs may be approved, but, as the hon. Gentleman suggests, how they should be stored and transported. I would expect that to be part of the package of regulations under the Bill. As I have stated, I do not accept that we are talking about healthcare here;…”

“The Minister suggests that it is appropriate for the patient to give some advance indication of what should be done in the event of complications, but that it would not be right for Parliament, too, to give advance direction of the sorts of responses that would be appropriate in the circumstances. I am afraid that I do…”

“I am very pleased to hear it. I thank the hon. Lady for that. That helps me because I was perplexed about the difference. It is good to hear from her that there is no particular group of professionals who she thinks should not be included in the conscience clause. It is good to hear that she agrees with that. I would b…”

“I rise to speak in support of my amendments 480 and new clause 22, and amendments 483, 484 and 441, tabled by the hon. Member for York Central. The conscience clause that is provided for in clause 23 is too narrow in two respects: first, in who it covers, and secondly, in what it protects. I will start with the issue o…”

“I rise to speak primarily to the amendments in my name and those in the name of the hon. Member for York Central with respect to the regulations for the approval of the approved substances—the drugs that will be used in the procedure of assisted death. My amendment 465 states: “A drug may only be approved under this Ac…”

“I beg to move amendment 409, in clause 20, page 13, line 35, leave out from “specify” to “for” and insert— “two or more drugs or other substances with different techniques of administration”. The amendment requires that the Secretary of State specifies two or more drugs or other substances, which have different techniq…”

“This group of amendments contains two sub-groups that I shall deal with separately. Amendment 462, in my name, and amendments 497 and 498, in the name of the hon. Member for Spen Valley, concern the information given at the provision of assistance and decisions around that. My amendment 463 concerns the question of ass…”

“I rise to speak to amendment 440, which stands in the name of the hon. Member for York Central. I echo the points made by the hon. Member for Banbury. Surely it is the case that the interventions made by a medical practitioner in response to the procedure failing, and the timing of those interventions, must be properly…”

“I beg to move amendment 462, in clause 18, page 12, line 20, at end insert— “(3A) When providing a substance under subsection (3) the coordinating doctor must explain to the person that they do not have to go ahead and self administer the substance and they may still cancel their declaration.””

“I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”