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Ruth Fox

Jun 24, 2026

9:55
We'll hand straight over to our second speaker, which is Ruth.
9:59
Hi, Tom.
9:59
Thank you.
10:00
Thank you very much.
10:02
So you asked me to look at whether private members' bills, which was what the assisted dying bill was, are sort of the right mechanism for legislating on these complex ethical issues and particularly as Lord Falconer says, those that split across party lines.
10:16
So we know that private members' bills work well for many things, for things like technical reforms, narrow niche legislative changes, changes, of course, that the government supports when it's got handout bills.
10:29
But they are, I think, more challenging when used for more complex or ethical questions.

31 MINS LATER

41:44
Maybe before we go there, Ruth, I'll just see if you have the thoughts on this sort of trade-off between taking the time to get things right, but doing things quickly enough that they actually change the public's lives quickly.

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