What is Lindsay Nicholson's objection to assisted dying?

Lindsay Nicholson says she shares Kim Leadbeater's wish for the best possible end-of-life care, and objects mainly to the order of priorities. She wants hospices properly funded, general wards given privacy for the dying, and coercive control of elderly people properly reported and prosecuted. Once those are fixed, she says, people can choose as they wish. She also fears hospice funding would shrink further under an assisted dying law.

• Nicholson's husband John Merritt died on a general ward at Hammersmith Hospital without even a privacy curtain.

▸In their words

“Hospices in this country are only a third funded by government, two thirds funded by people selling old jumpers on the high street.” Lindsay Nicholson · at 21:40 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Rest Is Politics (2026-10-22). Read the whole episode summary →

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