Westminster week: MPs and peers weigh Iran conflict fallout, energy costs and assisted dying

A wide-ranging Westminster broadcast on 21 March brought together senior MPs and peers to examine the political fallout from the Iran conflict, rising energy costs and the intensifying debate over assisted dying, while also featuring a personal account from Labour MP Naz Shah.

Host Isabel Hardman, from the Spectator, assessed the Iran conflict, three weeks in, with Labour’s Dame Emily Thornberry MP, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and former Conservative deputy foreign secretary Sir Andrew Mitchell MP.

The chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, Ruth Curtice, and business journalist and crossbench peer Patience Wheatcroft, a member of the Lords Economic Affairs Committee, discussed rising energy costs caused by the conflict and whether the government should intervene.

Legislators in Scotland and Westminster have been debating assisted dying this week. Labour MP Beccy Cooper, a doctor who supports assisted dying, and Robert Lisvane, the former Clerk of the House of Commons who now sits as a crossbench peer, joined the discussion as the question was raised of whether the bill will run out of time in Westminster.

In a closing interview, Labour MP Naz Shah spoke about a childhood shaped by hardship and injustice within a British Pakistani family in Bradford and her journey to become a parliamentarian.