00:00It's just coming up to nine minutes past nine.
00:02As we've been saying, huge day for Parliament today.
00:05The Assisted Dying Bill, final reading this morning.
00:09Vote on it this afternoon.
00:11Let's talk to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,
00:13Lisa Nandy.
00:14It's lovely to see you this morning.
00:17This is a free vote, of course.
00:20Is your mind made up at this stage?
00:23Yes, so I'm a long-standing supporter
00:25of giving people more choice and dignity at the end of their lives.
00:30I've long wanted to see the law change.
00:33I supported the bill at second reading,
00:35which is when it's introduced formally to the House of Commons,
00:38and I still support it now.
00:40I think there's been a very respectful and detailed debate
00:43over the last few months amongst colleagues in Parliament
00:47and outside it in the public, including on your show on GB News.
00:51I think we've conducted this well.
00:53I think there are safeguards in the bill.
00:55I'd like to see colleagues support it today.
00:58But, of course, as a government, we are neutral on this issue.
01:01We will respect the will of Parliament, whatever they decide.
01:04I'm not sure if you've seen, Minister,
01:05that this morning we've had Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick
01:09an interview with him on where he talked about his grandmother
01:12and how she was given not long to live,
01:14but then they had 10 years with her.
01:17What's your stance in those instances
01:20where people are given not long,
01:21but then they end up living many more years?
01:24Perhaps they may feel like a burden,
01:26but should we not encourage them to try and live their life
01:30to the fullest that they possibly can?
01:33Yeah, I think we should.
01:34And we should particularly make sure that all of the support
01:37is available for them to do that.
01:39And that's one of the reasons why we've wasted no time
01:43as a new government in turning our attention to
01:46bringing down waiting lists in the NHS,
01:48working with councils for longer-term funding settlements
01:52so that we can start to deal with the crisis
01:55that we inherited in social care.
01:57All of those things really matter.
01:59But I think my observation is that having gone through
02:02several months of debate in Parliament about this,
02:05almost every MP, including myself,
02:07is very, very shaped in our views on this
02:10by our own personal experiences.
02:12And what we've managed to do collectively
02:14is to ensure that no one experience
02:17is allowed to outweigh the other.
02:19So I really do listen to experiences
02:22like Robert Jenrick's family and take them seriously.
02:25There have been many examples given
02:27through the course of the debate.
02:28There have also been many, many examples of people
02:30who've had to end their lives in pain and suffering
02:35that could have been avoided.
02:37And I think people on the other side of the debate
02:39have taken those seriously as well.
02:41We've got to find a system that strikes the right balance.
02:45I think the bill, as it currently is, does that.
02:47Yeah, I mean, the problem is,
02:49and I totally get what you're saying.
02:51I mean, from my personal perspective,
02:53I always have supported the idea of it,
02:55but I don't know if I'm, now that it comes to it,
02:58comfortable about it being brought forward in legislation.
03:01And I don't quite understand why something
03:03doesn't sit right with me on a personal level.
03:07These are all very personal issues, aren't they?
03:09But one concern which has been raised time and time again
03:13is what happens to this legislation if it is enacted?
03:16How does it get modified?
03:18How does it get changed?
03:19Do we want to end up like Canada,
03:20where things have changed considerably?
03:22Because there is concern that even with the terminal diagnosis,
03:26a six-month diagnosis,
03:27it's only a matter of time before human rights lawyers say,
03:31well, actually, look, I've got someone with a longer diagnosis,
03:34but they have no quality of life and this therefore should be applied to them.
03:38How do we stop the slide on this, should it get through?
03:43Well, the bill is drawn very tightly.
03:45So in that scenario, it would have to return to Parliament to legislate again.
03:51And there are a number of safeguards in the bill,
03:54including safeguards through the courts
03:56and the need for more than one doctor to sign this off at the patient's request.
04:03So there are safeguards there.
04:04But I appreciate that for some people,
04:06this won't convince them that this is safe and will protect people.
04:12Colleagues voting on this today will have to look at the legislation
04:15and take their own view, as will all of your viewers as well.
04:19What I would say is that if the bill passes the House of Commons today,
04:23that's not the end of the process.
04:25So it will go to the House of Lords.
04:27There'll be more debate there.
04:28The public, of course, will continue to debate this.
04:31And there may well be amendments before it comes back to the Commons.
04:34And as a government, we're committed to working to implement the will of Parliament.
04:38So if Parliament decides no, then the bill ends there.
04:41If Parliament decides that it does want to proceed with this piece of legislation,
04:45then obviously it's our job to make sure that in the real world,
04:48it can work and that it can be implemented.
04:51And we've given a commitment to do that.
04:53You mentioned colleagues and the public there.
04:55But of course, there is a big deficit between those two groups, isn't there?
04:59Politicians have heard about this in the Commons and will hear about it in the Lords.
05:02Whereas members of the public, four in ten Brits say that they still don't understand this bill.
05:08How would you explain it to members of the public?
05:10And how can we make it so that members of the general public understand what's going on
05:15with key, key issues that are being debated all the time in the Commons?
05:19Well, I think I probably speak for most colleagues when I say that I've had more correspondence
05:23about this bill than almost any other.
05:26So I think there is a conversation already ongoing between people and their own members
05:31of Parliament about the measures that are contained within this bill.
05:34And certainly I know, as the very proud MP for Wigan, that there are different views
05:39amongst my constituents and in my community about this.
05:42And I've been pleased to be able to, notwithstanding my own personal preference, I've been able
05:49to provide information to my own constituents about what is in the bill and what is not in
05:54the bill that will enable them to make their own minds up.
05:58I also think that this debate that we're having today and you giving time on a very busy show
06:04in a very busy Newsweek to making sure that we discuss this is really important.
06:09And there is a commitment across the House, whichever side you're on, to continue to being
06:14part of that public debate and helping the public to understand what it is that Parliament
06:18is doing.
06:18It's very nice to see Parliament behaving in such a respectful and considerate way,
06:23which doesn't often happen, does it?
06:26Before we let you go, I know you're announcing money for sport, to fund big sporting events,
06:34but also to improve grassroots sport.
06:37And I know there are huge benefits to all of this.
06:40We know it as a country.
06:41We know it as a nation.
06:42But I've got to ask you, £900 million, best part of a billion quid, at a time when we
06:49keep saying we haven't got any money, we're running out of money.
06:53Well, you're right to say it's a significant commitment from us as a government to our belief
06:57in the power of sport, but probably more importantly, to our belief in our communities and particularly
07:03the young people in our communities and the lives that we want them to go on to lead.
07:08The part of the money, £500 million, will go on to major sporting events like the Euros
07:142028 and the Tour de France, which will start both the men's and women's race in the same
07:19country for the first time ever in 2027 and come through towns, villages and cities across
07:25the whole of the UK.
07:27That's a tremendous opportunity for young people to get up close to some of the best athletes
07:33and competitors in the world and inspire them to believe that they too can go on to achieve
07:39what they want to achieve.
07:41The other £400 million will go on to precisely that.
07:44Far too many communities in this country have either no or crumbling sports facilities in their
07:52communities.
07:52And I think when we've built and invested in those facilities, they are a shining testament
07:58in our communities to how much we value and care about this generation of young people
08:04and our communities.
08:06And so this government is right behind it.
08:08We're committed to it.
08:09We know it will bring enormous economic benefit to the UK.
08:12The Euros alone is projected to bring in about £2.4 billion in terms of economic value.
08:19That's local shops and businesses in every part of the UK feeling the benefit.
08:24But most importantly, it's lives that are changed because a government stood up in difficult
08:29times and said, we're going to invest.
08:32Minister, good to talk to you this morning.
08:34Thank you very much indeed.
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