by Ellie Cumbo on Substack
Why the assisted dying Bill shouldn’t get a second go-around.
As was foretold, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been resurrected. Labour MP Lauren Edwards announced in June that she intended to bring it back after it ran out of time in the House of Lords, and it has now been published in virtually the same form that was sent from the Commons over a year ago.
This being perhaps the least surprising thing to have happened in Westminster this summer, it hasn’t attracted much in the way of comment. But life- and assisted death- comes at you fast: there are in fact only seven weeks to go until MPs will vote on whether or not to send it through the legislative process for a second time.
This time, it is a very different decision- and not only because there is a new Prime Minister. The original sponsors of the Bill, Kim Leadbeater MP and Lord Falconer, have made no secret of their intention to wield the Parliament Act 1911 as a stick with which to beat the Lords. The Act- which has never been used on a Private Member’s Bill before- allows a piece of legislation to become law if the Commons votes it through twice in consecutive sessions of Parliament, regardless of what the Lords do.
Crucially, however, it must be the same Bill both times. With the exception of two amendments that were agreed in the Lords, the use of the Parliament Act is conditional on it being “identical”, which is why Edwards has chosen to reintroduce it with no other changes. This is despite the fact that the sponsors had themselves tabled over 70 amendments that they wanted the Lords to make, but which were not reached in the available time.
Their list included stipulating that no child can start to have informal discussions with their doctors about an assisted death before turning 18, ensuring that assisted dying services are actually regulated, and giving the Secretary of State a duty to consider “safety” (a word that doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bill) when bringing in the new services. These are not exactly trivial matters.