Baroness Whitaker

Labour Peer

UK Parliament Profile

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🗣️ Speeches and Debates

  • Crime and Policing Bill - Report (4th Day) (Continued): Amendment 375 9 Mar 2026

    My Lords, I first declare an interest as president of Friends, Families and Travellers and the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers, and co-chair of the relevant APPG. It is in that connection that I applaud these amendments. They right an acknowledged wrong, a breach of the Human Rights Act, the remedy for which was fought for in the courts by a brave Romany...
  • Crime and Policing Bill - Report (4th Day) (Continued): Amendment 375 9 Mar 2026

    My Lords, I first declare an interest as president of Friends, Families and Travellers and the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers, and co-chair of the relevant APPG. It is in that connection that I applaud these amendments. They right an acknowledged wrong, a breach of the Human Rights Act, the remedy for which was fought for in the courts by a brave Romany...
  • Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - Committee (10th Day): Amendment 122 27 Feb 2026

    I apologise for interrupting, but I am a little confused. It seems that there is a considerable principled difference between expertise and conflict of interest. People who have been involved in assisted dying have expertise; they do not necessarily have a conflict of interest. You can be a professional, as I am sure the noble Baroness well understands, and be independent, so why is expertise...
  • Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - Committee (9th Day): Amendment 87A (to Amendment 87) 6 Feb 2026

    Does the noble Baroness, Lady Gerada, agree that the cardinal difference between suicide and voluntary assisted death is that voluntary assisted death applies to people who are already dying? There is no way that they are going to survive, and that seems to make the whole difference. What we seek in this Bill—and I very much support the safeguard proposed by my noble and learned friend in...
  • Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - Committee (8th Day): Amendment 60 30 Jan 2026

    My Lords, that provision is in the Bill, if the noble Baroness would just look. I am afraid that I cannot put my finger on the actual clause, but the assessing doctor is required to provide interpreters where necessary.
  • Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - Committee (6th Day): Amendment 30ZA (to Amendment 30) 16 Jan 2026

    My Lords, in connection with Amendment 30, I will just say, in a point of distinction to some of the speeches, that if I were interested in having an assisted death, part of the reason would most definitely be that I would not want to be a burden on my family. I have told my children this. They perfectly understand and I trust them to carry out my wishes. If I do not have any more pleasure in...
  • Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - Committee (3rd Day): Amendment 10 5 Dec 2025

    My Lords, when considering this group, in particular, perhaps, Amendments 300A and 306A, I realised that the small number of noble Lords who have tabled most of the very large number of amendments to the Bill recognise compassion as their guiding intention. I hope they are being reassured by my noble and learned friend Lord Falconer’s comprehensive and expert reassurance on the many...
  • Criminal Court Reform - Statement 2 Dec 2025

    My Lords, I should declare that my daughter is a recorder. Very many people have put to me a lot of points, and there is just one that makes me want to ask my noble friend a question. I should say that all absolutely recognise the primacy of dealing with the backlog and that there is a clear case for complex, time-consuming fraud cases to go to the judge alone, and for low-level offences to...

More of Baroness Whitaker's speeches and debates

✍️ Written Questions and Answers

More of Baroness Whitaker's written questions