by Tom Hunt, CapX
The report stage of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was meant to be held later this month, on April 25 to be precise. However, earlier this month, in a letter to MPs shortly before they broke up for Easter recess, Leadbeater announced that the date had been pushed back to May 16. Bearing in mind that it is unlikely that the report stage will be sufficient for all the various amendments to her flawed Bill, this will likely mean that the final third reading vote will not be until sometime in June.
Leadbeater has claimed that the reason for this delay is so MPs can be given more time to consider the Bill following the changes that were made to it during the committee stage. The issue now, though, is that thanks to her constant chicanery and game-playing over the past few months, many no longer take her explanation for the delay at face value.
Far from moving report stage back to give MPs more time to consider her Bill, or because she has listened to some of the concerns that were raised by some MPs about the original April 25 date clashing with the local elections, it seems reasonable to presume that the true reason for the delay is more to do with nervousness about voting numbers and issues surrounding the Government’s impact assessment.