Speeches by Gordon.

“I speak only one language and it is definitely not Welsh, even though I did have a stint working in Wales. With any language, things can be lost in translation. When we are talking about something like assisted dying, does the Minister acknowledge that even with very skilled interpreters, there would have to be a suita…”

“The hon. Gentleman will have to forgive me, because I am a relatively new MP and there are still bits of parliamentary procedure that I have not yet got my head round, but is it not the case that MPs will have a say on Report, when they can table amendments to take the Bill back to how it was? That point could therefor…”

“I have been in communication with Liberal Democrat councillors in the East Riding of Yorkshire and also the Liberal Democrat administration in Hull. Yesterday, the leader of the council, Mike Ross, raised the call for a rapid response from Government, and I really push the Minister to provide clarity on what exactly we…”

“The point that the hon. Member makes is, I think, exactly the case—raising this conversation and talking about it is probably not in anyone’s best interests in the first instance. I think about my own situation. If I were to find myself terminally ill and falling within the scope of this law, and my mum had passed away…”

“I recently visited the beautiful village of Burton Leonard in my constituency for the 100th anniversary of its women’s institute branch. Will the Leader of the House join me in celebrating the fact that it has made it to 100 and hope that it has many more years to come? Will she also consider whether there is time for …”

“I congratulate my friend, the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), on securing this debate. As was mentioned, I used to work for the type 1 diabetes charity JDRF, as it was then—it is now Breakthrough T1D. We used to regularly have meetings with Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care. One of the…”

“I recently met volunteers who run the Harrogate Competitive Festival for Music, Speech and Drama, a charity that has been going for almost 90 years. It has over 250 different classes and categories, 800 entries to its competitions, and more than 1,300 children taking part every year. I heard about how it gives confiden…”

“The Minister mentioned that the taskforce would look at all options. Would that include scrapping the two-child benefit cap?”

“I think there is already broad consensus in this country: people would like the option of assisted dying. Polling shows overwhelming support for it. I accept that there are disagreements about what the option looks like, but this is not something that people have never thought about before and would suddenly pop into t…”

“When people are in what is often termed a “crisis”, that would indicate that they are not in a situation where they have capacity. I do not see how the hon. Gentleman can think that it is reasonable to make a comparison between these two things; they are entirely different, and I am sure everyone here would broadly agr…”

“They would need to come within the definition of a terminal illness. I will come that later in my speech. We must recognise the reality of neurodegenerative diseases. There are other conditions where prognosis follows a clear trajectory. People with conditions such as MND and Parkinson’s experience a slow but relentles…”

“I find this a little bit baffling, because we had a comprehensive list of witnesses that we were able to circulate in advance. The format in which those oral evidence sessions were held was really helpful and informative. We were able to ask questions, and as the hon. Member for Ipswich mentioned, we were interacting w…”

“Prior to being elected to Parliament, I worked for a type 1 diabetes charity—I feel like I have been saying that a lot recently. When we talk about diabetes, we often do not consider the fact that there are different types, including type 1, type 2 and gestational. They are not all akin, or the same. Furthermore, the N…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I speak in support of amendment 234, which is tabled in my name and seeks to ensure that people suffering from neurodegenerative conditions are not excluded from the dignity and autonomy that the Bill seeks to provide. The amendment would extend the eligibility…”

“Marie Curie’s definition of a terminal illness is “an illness or condition which cannot be cured and is likely to lead to someone’s death”. It is obviously one of the best-known end of life charities, so how does the hon. Member reconcile the differences he has with its professional expertise?”

“Prior to entering Parliament, I worked for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a type 1 diabetes charity, and one of the issues that came to light when this measure was previously proposed by the Government was the fact that children who might need to use their phones to monitor their type 1 diabetes, or who hav…”

“Harrogate has a wealth of independent stores that attract people to the town from across the region—including shoplifters, unfortunately. I have been speaking with Harrogate business improvement district about what it can do to help tackle shoplifting. It has an increasingly good relationship with North Yorkshire polic…”

“Last week I held a two-hour question and answer session with Disability Action Yorkshire. One issue that came up was the inability of disabled people to use their bus passes before 9 o’clock, limiting them in getting to work, accessing leisure opportunities or seeing family and friends. Does the Minister agree that one…”

“When the previous Government cancelled High Speed 2, they promised more than £4 billion for projects in the north and the midlands. Do the Government still plan to deliver on that, and when should we expect to see that money in the north?”

“The hon. Lady uses the term “encouragement”. If I were in a situation where a loved one wanted to access assisted dying, and I said I supported their wishes, would that fall under the scope of encouragement? We do not want to end up in a situation where people who support their loved ones end up dragged through a legal…”