Keir Starmer has dashed the hopes of campaigners and terminally ill people after saying the Government will remain neutral on a new bid to legalise assisted dying.
Background of the Bill
MPs first passed the bill in the Commons in a historic vote in June last year, but the bid to allow terminally ill people to end their lives collapsed in May in the House of Lords. Supporters of the law change accused peers of purposely tabling hundreds of amendments to ensure it ran out of time.
Labour MP Lauren Edwards will today renew the fight with a new private members' bill containing the same law change as the one spearheaded by colleague Kim Leadbeater.
Government's Stance
Giving government time to the bill would help reduce the risk of it falling to the Lords. But asked if the Government would back Ms Edwards' bill, the Prime Minister told reporters at the G7 summit the same approach would be taken this time around.
He said: “Look, the approach we'll take to the new bill, as it will now be - essentially the same bill - is exactly the same approach as we took before, which is the government will not take a position on it.
“We will treat it in exactly the same way. I'm deeply conscious that there are different and strongly held views not just in my party but actually across Parliament on this as we've already seen.
But the approach of the government will be the same in relation to this bill as it was in relation to the bill that fell as a result of the King's speech or the new session.”
Next Steps
The bill will have its first parliamentary stage today, but it won't be debated by MPs until its second reading, which is expected in September. Ms Edwards came second in the Private Members’ Bill ballot, which is a lottery that gives individual politicians an opportunity to put forward a bill to change the law.
Her bill is identical to the one brought forward by Ms Leadbeater, which would allow terminally ill people in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to seek an assisted death, subject to approval by doctors and legal professionals.
Reactions
Ms Edwards told The Mirror earlier this week: “There are a lot of people living in very fearful, very difficult situations - either themselves or their family members - who are just wanting us as politicians to do our job and follow through on the legislation that has been supported already. I think there's an obligation for us to do it.”
Humanists UK chief executive Andrew Copson said her efforts would correct the “injustice” of it having fallen. "It's correcting an injustice after it was undemocratically filibustered in the House of Lords,” he said. “We cannot let a small group of unelected peers dictate the choices all of us have at the end of our lives.”
However critics warned the bill was "deeply flawed". Labour MP Ashley Dalton said: "Very sad to see my colleague Lauren Edwards MP bringing the deeply flawed and unsafe Assisted Dying Bill back as a PMB. If it was safe and brilliant why did the Lords sponsor of the bill bring 77 amendments in the Lords? It cannot just be brought back as it is and forced through."
The bill will be presented in Parliament today and is expected to return for debate in September.
