Speeches by Shah.

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend about that in most cases, but in nine of the 10 cases that went to court, young girls were found to have capacity, but their treatment was stopped, leading to their inevitable death. That is not excluded here.”

“Not full stop.”

“My hon. Friend is saying that that will take two years. The MCA, which has been implemented over 20 years, is misunderstood. Does he not see the risk of two years? This is new territory, without change—”

“Does the hon. Member agree that the amendment ultimately aims to provide clarity, and that clarity ultimately leads to safety?”

“Apologies. My hon. Friend is right that those were different situations, but I remind him of the evidence that we heard from Dr Jamilla, for example. I am glad that he reminded me of this point, because although what happened in covid was done under different circumstances—I agree that what happened with DNRs was a “di…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I will be speaking to that in the next group of amendments, so I do not want to go through it in detail now, but I absolutely accept that that was a disgraceful situation—”

“My hon. Friend makes a very valid point. Another issue that we have not got to yet, but that we will be looking at, is the doctors who do not want to take part in this process. We must consider whether there will be a bias; he is right to point that out. Will there be a subconscious bias towards helping people? My hon.…”

“I will pick up on some of the points to which my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud referred, given his expertise. We heard from three senior psychiatrists during the evidence sessions, who were very clear; I have already mentioned much of their evidence. The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ written evidence states: “It …”

“The hon. Gentleman said it would be rich for people to say that capacity cannot be assessed. That is not the case. I am not convinced about that, and I am not sure, from the evidence I have seen, that anybody is saying that anybody is not capable of assessing capacity per se. Would the hon. Gentleman agree that the arg…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way; he has been generous with his time. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman has seen the evidence from Alex Ruck Keene KC on mental capacity. He sets out very clearly the myths around mental capacity, one of which is that mental capacity is well understood. He argues that it …”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“How does my hon. Friend respond to not one, not two, but multiple witnesses, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, saying, absolutely contrary to what he is saying, that the Mental Capacity Act is not the right bar and that the bar is too low?”

“Given what my hon. Friend has just said—that he accepts the premise of my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford that the doctor would have to assist—can he help me to understand where that leaves the issue of autonomy if a doctor is, as he has agreed, allowed to assist in the decision?”

“My hon. Friend no doubt speaks from his experience of being a mental health nurse. I think there is space for that, and there are amendments that we will come on to when we talk about later parts of the Bill that deal with those initial conversations. I will be happy to address that issue then. I also welcome any more …”

“I have just finished that example, Mrs Harris. Several highly experienced palliative medicine doctors have warned us that doctors raising assisted dying with patients would have two very harmful effects. The doctors said that it would scare patients away from palliative care, especially those from minority communities …”

“I do acknowledge that, but ultimately I am a Member of Parliament for my constituency of Bradford West, and we have a doctor who has been doing research with its communities. I come from a community where there is huge deprivation: Bradford West has two of the most deprived wards, and one of the youngest populations. D…”

“I am not sure that the amendment would be that kind of gag clause, so I disagree. If a patient says, “Give me all the options to bring an end to this,” the judgment of the doctor could be that assisted dying is an option. If that is the case, perhaps we need to look to the Government’s and Ministers’ wash-up process. W…”

“Unfortunately, I do not agree. I do not even agree with the term “gag clause”, which has been used a few times now. From where I stand, this is not a gag clause; it is an amendment that protects those who are most vulnerable. In Committee I have referred continuously to the most vulnerable, as have other hon. Members, …”

“It is the right and proper thing to do to give options, but we are talking about vulnerability. We have had the debate a few times now about people with vulnerability, and we heard during evidence sessions about coercion, capacity and all the issues relating to amendment 8 in respect of those with vulnerabilities being…”

“If we take that number, then that 30% or 40% who do not take that decision is maybe a few hundred people. However, the truth from Professor Sleeman’s evidence is that we are talking about thousands of people who are misdiagnosed every single year. She was talking about 3,516 who lived longer than expected. Yes, I recog…”