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