A BILL to legalise assisted dying in the UK will not receive its next vote in the House of Commons until 13 June, after a parliamentary session on Friday ran out of time to debate the amendments that had been tabled.
The Labour MP Kim Leadbeater brought forward the proposed legislation through a Private Member’s Bill (PMB). It has been strongly opposed by some bishops in the Church of England, with the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, a former Chief Nursing Officer, prominent among its critics (News, 6 May).
Unlike provision for Public Bills, PMBs are debated only on 13 Fridays in a parliamentary session, which are set aside for this. The Report Stage in the Commons began last Friday. More than 90 MPs had indicated their desire to speak, and, despite a time limit being imposed on speeches, insufficient progress was made for members to vote on the Bill as a whole.
The only substantial change to be introduced on Friday extends the list of people who can refuse to take part in the process of assisted dying. The wording of the Bill already allowed medical practitioners to refuse involvement; the new wording extends the range of the opt-out to include any health-care workers involved at any point in the process.
In the sole vote in the debate, an amendment was defeated which would have ensured that an employee who works for an employer (such as a hospice) who has chosen not to provide assisted dying could not themselves do so.
Challenged on this in Friday’s debate, Ms Leadbeater said that the relevant clause states clearly, that, “No person is under any duty to participate in the provision of assistance in accordance with this Act.” She felt strongly, she said, that, “if people do not want to be involved, they should not have to be involved, and those who do, should.”
Caroline Ansell, the director of advocacy and policy at the charity Christian Action Research and Education and the former Conservative MP for Eastbourne, said last Friday that she was “deeply saddened by the vote this afternoon to deny hospices and care homes the right to opt out of facilitating assisted suicides, should Kim Leadbeater’s Bill become law. This could cause some vital services to close their doors.”
A campaigner for the legalisation of assisted dying, Dame Esther Rantzen, was criticised during the debate for her accusation that opponents of the Bill were motivated by “undeclared personal religious beliefs”.
The Labour MP for Lowestoft, Jess Asato, said on Friday that the comments, made in a letter sent to MPs, were “distasteful and disrespectful”.
The MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, Florence Eshalomi, also Labour, said that it was “insulting to disabled people and hard-working professionals up and down the country to have their many valid concerns about this Bill dismissed as religious beliefs.”
The Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle, Dr Kieran Mullan, responded to the debate on behalf of the Opposition, and said that he was “concerned to see the clumsy criticism of those whose objections to the Bill are thought to be centred in their religious beliefs . . . not least because I suspect that a very large number of supporters of the Bill might draw on their Christian or other religious compassion to explain why they want to see it pass.”
Neither the Labour Party or the Conservative Party are taking an official position on the legislation, and MPs are to be allowed a free vote.
Ms Ansell also criticised the amount of time allotted for debate on Friday, saying that it “compounded concern” about the Bill. “Some parliamentarians didn’t get to speak to their amendments, and those who did faced a rushed debate in which they weren’t able to elaborate on vital points. This is not how Parliament should deliberate on any issue, let alone one of such gravity,” she said.
