MPs and campaigners plot to block assisted dying bill
MPs and campaigners who are opposed to the assisted dying bill are planning to ramp up efforts to block the legislation after it passed its first Commons hurdle on Friday.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would allow those with less than six months to live to seek medical assistance to end their life, was voted through at its Second Reading with a majority of 55 votes.
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who proposed the bill, has promised that the billâs committee stage, where MPs will go through its text line-by-line, will comprise of MPs with a range of views, suggesting those who are opposed could get a seat at the table.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who has spoken out strongly against the legislation, told The i Paper that those opposed to the proposals would meet in the coming days âto make a determination as to whoâs best to serveâ on the bill committee.
She is heavily sceptical of the committeeâs ability to amend the legislation to address MP concerns, citing the fact that the proceedings will be lead by Leadbeater, and she will have the final say over who participates in the process.
âWe need to understand what the process is, how much time is going to be given, and also how Kim herself is going to conduct herself in that committee,â Maskell continued.
âShe put forward the bill she wanted [on Friday], and we have to remember that as legislators. Thatâs why bills donât change that much in committee, because legislators want their piece of legislation.â
Leadbeater is expected to announce the membership of her committee this week. She promised that the MPs scrutinising the bill would be ârepresentative of the views of the house and also the makeup of the house.â
She has also promised that the bill will undergo a âthorough and robustâ process at its subsequent parliamentary stages, adding that there is âplenty of time to get this right.â
Speaking during the debate on the bill, she told MPs she had made the unorthodox decision to allow her committee to take oral and written evidence, a process that does not usually occur for private membersâ bills (PMBs).
Some MPs hope that the committee and report stages can highlight shortcomings in the legislation, persuading their colleagues to change their vote ahead of the billâs Third Reading, where the Commons signs off the legislation before it is sent to the Lords.
âMy hope is that we can amend it into oblivion and make it clear that itâs unworkable. This bill is full of holes and once those start coming up in the later stages of this bill, my colleagues may start to see some sense,â a Labour MP who strongly opposes the bill told The i Paper.
One campaigner opposed to the bill argued that the support of many MPs at this stage was âqualified,â with many likely to oppose it at the third reading if major changes arenât made.
âThe reality is that you only need 28 MPs to change, and the result changes,â they added.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis is among MPs who backed the bill but are awaiting reassurances before voting it into law. There are also the 31 MPs who did not record a vote.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, pledged that campaigners would now âredouble our efforts to ensure we fight this bill at every stage.â
âSerious concerns remain about how this legislation would operate in practice, and the strong response from MPs across all parties shows these issues wonât simply disappear,â she insisted.
A shadow Conservative minister, who also voted against the bill, suggested that the governmentâs promised impact assessments could be a crucial tool in changing MPsâ minds.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who voted against the proposals on Friday, announced ahead of the vote that he had asked his department to investigate the billâs impacts, but this information has not been published or made available to MPs.
He echoed warnings from doctors that the procedural changes needed to bring in assisted dying could have cost implications for the NHS.
âIt will draw results away from palliative care, because the amount of the money that will have to be spent on the array of protections to protect doctors, to avoid them being sued or charged, is such that is such that resources will have to be diverted,â he told The i Paper.
Conservative MP Kit Malthouse, a longtime supporter of assisted dying and a co-signatory of the bill, told Sky News on Friday that his colleagues should be reassured that the Government would âengage with the legislation and work with the bill promoters to make sure that it is workableâ.
âThat means that during committee and report, there may be amendments and adjustments that the Government wants to make, which is great because we need to make sure that this lands well, not just for the people itâs going to affect but for the whole of society, and in particular for the NHS,â Malthouse continued.
Pushed on what changes could be made to the bill at the committee stage, he said that would be dependent on âwhat comes forward in evidenceâ.
âItâs hard for me to predict [what changes could be made] because it will have to see how it goes, and I wouldnât want to give a conclusion now.
âPart of our job is to sit back and contemplate issues that are raised with the legislation and adjust that if we think that is a valid concern,â he said.