Molly Meacher became a member of the House of Lords in 2009 and sits as a Crossbencher. In the Lords, Baroness Meacher speaks primarily on health, welfare and drug policy. She also played an important role in generating support for Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill. She is perhaps best known for her role in leading the House of Lords to reject changes to tax credits in 2015. For her work on this, she was named ‘Campaigner of the Year’ by The Oldie and shared the Spectator’s prestigious ‘Peer of the Year’ award with fellow campaigner Baroness Hollis of Heigham.
In 2021 Baroness Meacher introduced the Assisted Dying Bill, which would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults. It passed its Second Reading in October 2021 without opposition, but was not granted further time by Government for debate. As a result, the Bill fell at the end of that session.
Prior to entering the Lords, Baroness Meacher worked in the social services and mental health fields over many years and Chaired the East London NHS Foundation Trust for nine years. She was Deputy and Acting Chair of the Police Complaints Authority and also Chaired the Security Industry Authority.