from Religion Media Centre
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that there is no budget to implement assisted dying, following the narrow passage of the bill by MPs last Friday, with a vote of 314 to 291. In a Facebook post to his constituents, he said: “Setting up this service will take time and money that is in short supply.. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we’ve made the wrong one.”
The government has suggested assisted dying would cost between £10.9m and £13.6m a year.
Mr Streeting echoed the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who said: “There is no effective freedom to choose if the alternative option, the freedom to draw on high-quality end-of-life care, is not available”.
Over the weekend, there have been more comments from church leaders, Sikhs and Muslims all opposed to the bill, collated here.
The Bill will now go to the Lords for further debate and scrutiny. Wes Streeting promised he would work constructively with Parliament to assist on technical aspects of the Bill and “make sure that we do a good job with it for the country”.
Read also: Does Labour understand the cost of assisted dying? by Joan Smith, UnHerd