Whatever one’s view on the principle, this Bill requires careful, unhurried scrutiny. Lord Falconer – if he has confidence in his case – should welcome that process but not a month of Sundays, nor any number of Fridays, can make a bad bill good.
What starts as existential autonomy soon transforms into societal expectation. “Last resort” is where it starts, but I guarantee this is not where it ends.
This is a Bill that prioritises bodily autonomy over best interests. And this is a Bill that will ensure assisted suicide is fully funded, whilst palliative care still isn’t. So, any illusion it gives patients a proper choice at the end of their life is a fallacy.
How can we create death-approval bodies without the threat of independent scrutiny from coroners after the death has been carried out?
Whoever wins the Labour Deputy Leader role, let it be because they display a skillset and arguments, and principles that Labour think they want, not some race for who can display most some inverted atavistic badge of social standing.
Even if the Bill were to get through the Lords, bearing in mind the now 4-year implementation period to set up the assisted suicide system, which runs right up to, or perhaps even beyond, the next General Election, there are additional political hurdles it will need to overcome.
Kim Leadbeater’s bill was amended in Committee that effectively gave the Senedd the power to decide when to bring the bill into force. Last week, MPs voted to overturn this, taking away the effective veto MSs were due to get on implementing the Bill.
Even if you are supportive of assisted suicide as a principle, as many genuinely seem to be, I cannot imagine looking at this process – the way it has unfurled with U-turns, rushed scrutiny and distorted hearings – and still thinking this is the way it should be done.
With support to live being squeezed, what is being promoted as a “choice” to die could easily, over time, slip into becoming the default option.
The assisted dying bill, or more formally ‘The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill’, is rapidly making its way through Parliament but is not yet law. So far little has been done to effectively protect those who choose not to support suicide.
Not only am I concerned by what is in the Bill, but also by what is not. Amendments that could have had a seriously protective impact on the scope of operation of this Bill, should it become law, were rejected.
Assisted dying is often framed as a matter of choice, but it introduces risks we cannot fully control: misdiagnosis, subtle coercion, shifting interpretations and the quiet pressure on those who feel they are a burden. Once the door is opened it cannot be closed again.
Some people oppose the principle of this Bill. However even if you support assisted suicide this Bill is the wrong one. It is too wide in its eligibility; the process of pushing it through Parliament has been chaotic, bordering on anti-democratic and it will have a severely detrimental effect on the NHS.
After crossing the Rubicon, Caesar reportedly said: “the die is cast.” If Parliament legalises assisted suicide, we will have cast off the NHS as we know it, and in doing so, may place some of the most vulnerable in our society in harm’s way.
This is not only a healthcare issue, but an attack on the independence of key civil society institutions – a freedom about which Conservatives ought to care deeply.
What starts as existential autonomy soon transforms into societal expectation. “Last resort” is where it starts, but I guarantee this is not where it ends.