The Telegraph, which first reported Truss’s stance, also said Theresa May and Boris Johnson were against the billGood morning. We have got PMQs later, which means party politics will probably dominate for much of the day in the chamber, but increasingly MPs are preoccupied with a free vote, non-partisan matter, the vote on the assisted dying bill on Friday. This morning there are at least two interesting developments on that story.Three former Conservative prime ministers are all opposed to the bill, the Telegraph is reporting. The paper has a quote from Liz Truss who says:It is wrong in principle: organs of the state like the NHS and the judicial system should be protecting lives, not ending them.No doubt, as we have seen in Canada, vulnerable people would be put under appalling pressure to end their lives early. The law would be ripe for being exploited by the unscrupulous. MPs should vote this terrible bill down and instead focus on improving health services.Added to Gordon Brown’s intervention last week, that makes four former PMs opposed to a change in the law. There’s still no word from Rishi Sunak, David Cameron, Tony Blair or John Major … or really from Keir Starmer, for that matter.Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who has tabled the private member’s bill being debated on Friday, has criticised the MPs who have called for the bill to be voted down to allow time for a full policy review. Four Labour backbenchers are among the seven MPs who have tabled an amendment to this effect. The amendment does not oppose assisted dying in principle. In an interview with the Today programme this morning, Leadbeater said the amendment was “disappointing” because, if passed, it would stop the Commons voting on the substance of the bill. She explained:The route of the private member’s bill is absolutely the right route for taking this legislation through. That means that there can be a free vote by all MPs. It is not a government bill.The government has a neutral position on this and, sadly, the amendment that a handful of MPs have put forward is disappointing in that the public clearly want this debate to take place, and I think we’ve got responsibilities as parliamentarians to make sure that that debate does take place.In terms of time and scrutiny, look, this is not a new debate. This debate has been going on for decades. It’s been going on, as you quite rightly said, particularly in recent years, in no short part to due to high-profile campaigners like Esther Rantzen.But I think we can already see from what’s happened in the last few months, this bill will receive more scrutiny and more discussion and more debate, probably, than any piece of legislation. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/nov/27/pmqs-keir-starmer-kemi-badenoch-assisted-dying-bill-liz-truss-labour-tories
Author : Andrew Sparrow
Publish date : 2024-11-27 09:28:39
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Liz Truss opposes assisted dying bill saying NHS should be ‘protecting lives, not ending them’ – UK politics live
