been changed they concluded that the British approach to end of life issues is infinitely preferable and, even as Mr.Ottaway was asking the House of Commons to consider watering down Britain's vitally important safeguards, the Council of Europe was urging parliamentarians not to do so. In January of this year, having seen the consequences of full scale euthanasia, the Council of Europe passed a new resolution that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be banned throughout Europe. Parliament's reluctance to sanction change has been greatly influenced by this overseas experience. Let me describe how the Law of Unintended Consequences has unravelled in Holland; my second point: In the Netherlands a Euthanasia law was enacted in 2002 and euthanasia is defined as the administering of lethal drugs by a physician with the explicit intention to end a patient's life on the patient's explicit request. The law and the practice deserve proper analysis before wishing such laws on the UK. Official Dutch statistics indicate that last year the number of euthanasia deaths increased by 18% to 3,695. This follows increases of 13% in 2009 and 19% in 2010. In due course, at this rate of increase, in the technical sense of the word, euthanasia will properly be able to be described as endemic. Why would it be any different here in the UK if the movers of this Motion achieved their goal. It may be the law of unintended consequences which will be at work but be clear what the consequences have been