21/06/2025
The Week in Westminster
BBC
4.0 • 258 Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Caroline Wheeler of The Sunday Times assesses the latest developments at Westminster.
In the wake of a historic Commons vote in favour of a bill to legalise assisted dying, Caroline speaks to Labour MP Jake Richards, a supporter of the bill, and Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson, an opponent of it.
To discuss the ongoing crisis in the Middle East Caroline speaks to the Chairman of Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, Lord Beamish, and the former Conservative Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat.
After the Government announced further delays to HS2, Caroline brings together the Chair of the Transport Select Committee, Ruth Cadbury MP, and the former Conservative Rail minister, Huw Merriman, to assess whether we can have confidence in future infrastructure projects.
And the former Cabinet Secretary, Sir Simon Case, shines a light on life at the heart of government in the week it was revealed he would soon take a seat in the House of Lords.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Caroline Wheeler of the Sunday Times with The Week in Westminster. |
| 0:09.0 | Politics is rarely a matter of life and death, but this week was different. Not one, but two historic votes have paved the way for some of the most significant social changes to |
| 0:21.8 | this nation in decades. Earlier this week, MPs voted to decriminalise abortion for women |
| 0:28.7 | in England and Wales, the biggest change to abortion laws for nearly 60 years. And yesterday, |
| 0:34.9 | a controversial private members bill, which would give some terminally ill adults the right to end their lives, narrowly passed its third reading in the House of Commons. |
| 0:44.7 | The eyes to the right, 314, the nose to the left, 291. The eyes have it, the eyes have it, a look. |
| 0:54.5 | The landmark vote concluded a jam-packed week. It began with a U-turn on holding a national |
| 1:00.8 | grooming gang inquiry, included the resignation of a government whip over welfare policy |
| 1:06.0 | and played out amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. But it was the vote on the assisted dying bill |
| 1:12.7 | which marked the most telling political moment. |
| 1:16.0 | At the start of the debate, |
| 1:17.4 | the bill's sponsor, Labour MP Kim Ledbetter, |
| 1:20.5 | made a final impassioned plea for support. |
| 1:23.2 | Surely we should all have the right |
| 1:25.0 | to decide what happens to our bodies |
| 1:27.2 | and decide when enough is enough. And of course, giving people the right to decide what happens to our bodies and decide when enough is enough. |
| 1:29.3 | And of course, giving people the right to choose does not take away the right not to choose. |
| 1:33.3 | Yeah. |
| 1:34.9 | Shortly after the vote, I brought together two MPs who sit on either side of the argument. |
| 1:41.1 | Labor's Jake Richards is a supporter of the assisted dying bill and Liberal Democrat |
| 1:45.7 | Manera Wilson is an opponent of it. I asked Jake Richards if this felt like a moment of victory. |
| 1:52.2 | Look, it feels like a moment of real importance and I'm pleased that this has happened, |
... |
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