Lizzi Collinge MP is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG). We caught up with Lizzi to discuss how humanist values shape her work in Parliament – from championing compassion and individual freedom to driving evidence-based reform on assisted dying, education, and human rights.
Hi Lizzi! Tell us more about the impact the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group has had on UK politics.
One of the major influences the APPHG has had in this Parliament is, of course, on the assisted dying debate. Humanists have shaped the debate and been a key part of delivering the first stage of a new assisted dying law. The campaign by APPHG members on humanist marriages has meant that the Government has been unable to ignore the growing demand for marriage equality for humanists. And the APPHG has also had a strong part in the debate on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which of course included strong action on illegal faith schools, something humanists have been campaigning on for over a decade. The APPHG has also supported individual members in their work, including on child protection issues in relation to high-control religions.
What first drew you to humanism, and how does it shape the way you approach your work as an MP?
I think I’ve always been a humanist but didn’t necessarily know it had a name! I have never believed in god, despite being brought up in a Christian household, and have always been fascinated with the world as a natural phenomenon. The ethics I was brought up with could be encapsulated in the humanist slogan ‘Think for yourself, act for everyone’ and we were taught to have a concern for others. The explicit interest in using logic, reason, and evidence came a little later.
I remember having a conversation with a woman I was working with in Spain that I think sums up my belief. We were working in a garden in the mountains of Andalucía with eagles soaring overhead and a riot of plants and wildlife around us. We were chatting about beliefs and the woman said to me ‘but if there’s no afterlife, what’s the point?’. This absolutely baffled me – we were in a veritable paradise, had all our needs met, and we were doing good work that was satisfying and made a difference – what else did she want?
How do you see humanist values influencing decision-making?
I see a very strong humanist streak in this Parliament, not only through APPHG members, but more widely humanist beliefs informing the important debates of the day and combating regressive attitudes to individual autonomy. This can be seen most strongly in the assisted dying debate and the passing of the New Clause 1 to the Crime and Policing Bill, which took women out of the criminal law in regards to their own abortions. The results of the votes on both these issues, and the debate surrounding them, gives me hope that we still have a progressive majority.
With legal recognition for humanist marriages in England and Wales now clearly on the horizon, but we face yet more delays – and what’s your message to the UK Government now?
Get on with it. The Government knows it needs to make this change and it is unnecessary to tie up a simple legal change to allow humanist marriage with a wider, more controversial, reform of marriage laws.
With politicians questioning the UK’s commitment to the ECHR, why do you believe it’s vital that we stand firm in defending those universal protections?
Human rights are necessary for everyone, no matter what Nigel Farage says. They provide fundamental protection for the citizen both from other citizens but, more importantly, overreach of the state. Human rights laws have helped my constituents challenge unlawful failures to provide disability support, they have made sure victims of crime get justice, and they have supported victims of state malpractice and have been able to hold the state to account. Embedding human rights into UK law, as the last Labour Government did, has meant that a rights-respecting approach was written into lawmaking, although we need to recognise that it has not always delivered for everyone and that there’s more to do to make sure everyone’s rights are upheld.