Streeting says assisted dying bill passing into law will come at expense of other NHS services

Streeting says assisted dying bill passing into law will come at expense of other NHS servicesSource: Times Radio

Transcript

00:00To govern is to choose. If Parliament chooses to go ahead with assisted dying,

00:04it is making a choice that this is an area to prioritise for investment.

00:07You're opposed to the assisted dying proposals. You say the NHS can't cope with it, can't do it

00:13safely. But you will be the person who has to deliver them if they get passed. And I wonder,

00:17how can you be the Health Secretary who delivers on assisted dying if you fundamentally think it's

00:25the wrong thing? Well, I'm a parliamentarian. I respect Parliament and I respect the rule of law.

00:33And we as a government are neutral and would abide by the will of Parliament.

00:38So you don't think it's good that you don't think the NHS can cope with this, do you?

00:41Votes it down. Well, I think it would be a big change. It would be there would be resource

00:46implications for doing it. And those those choices would come at the expense of other choices.

00:52And of course, we'd need to work through with the medical profession what would be

00:56a very new way of working. No one should be compelled, for example, to take part in assisted

01:04dying if they've got moral or ethical objections as clinicians. That certainly would be one of my

01:09red lines. And that's one of the reasons why, whatever my own vote on this, I do welcome the

01:15debate. I welcome the debate in principle and also welcome the debate in practice.

01:20But it's not been budgeted for, just fine on this point. It's not been budgeted for. So whatever

01:24happens in this area, you'll have to find the money. If you do, if it does get accepted,

01:28you'll have to find the money from somewhere. Yeah, to govern is to choose. If Parliament

01:32chooses to go ahead with assisted dying, it is making a choice that this is an area

01:36to prioritise for investment. And we'd have to work through those implications.