Pressure is mounting on parliamentarians to oppose the new assisted dying bill in England and Wales. The draft Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill introduced by Kim Leadbetter is to be debated on 29 November – with a free vote taking place on the same day.
A Labour minister has warned this will not give time for the 38-page document to be sufficiently scrutinised in Parliament. Treasury minister Darren Jones said, given this is a Private Member’s bill, it will not get ‘anywhere near the same level of scrutiny and debate as the bills put forward by the government – and legalising assisted dying is far from a straightforward issue’.
Legal experts warn of risks
An open letter signed by 51 lawyers and academics, published by the Observer, urged MPs to resist the change. They wrote: ‘The law reports are littered with cases of undue influence and duress, and legalisation would inevitably expose the most vulnerable to that risk.’
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