Some MPs have said they are worried the bill could lead to a 'slippery slope'
, Labour MP for Spen Valley. She insists it has “the strictest protections and safeguards of any legislation anywhere in the world.”
However, such bills have a much stricter time limit, with MPs given only five hours to debate this bill at the second reading on 29 November. It is also being debated on a Friday – a day when MPs usually return to their constituencies. Labour MP Rachael Maskell has also expressed concerns about the time allotted to scrutinise the legislation. She toldShe also questioned whether Leadbeater was the right person to propose the bill, adding: “I’ve spoken to Kim Leadbeater, and she said she’s ‘learning a lot. ‘ Well, now’s not the time to learn. If she’s proposing this as a bill, she should have done her learning ahead of this.
These changes have been heavily criticised, however, by both disability campaigners and United Nations human rights experts, and plans to expand assisted dying to those with mental illness have now been delayed until 2027.: “I have serious concerns about the potential for this legislation to be misused, misinterpreted, or expanded over time.
“The bill you are being asked to support is very clear and very different… the bedrock of the UK’s system is the sovereignty of our Parliament,” the pamphlet states. “The thought of assisted suicide being introduced and managed safely at such a time is remarkably out of touch with the gravity of the current mental health crisis and pressures on staff,” the letter, first reported bySpeaking at a press conference on Tuesday, however, former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer dismissed concerns that the court system would not have the capacity to take on assisted dying cases.
However, DUP MP Sammy Wilson said that “there is sufficient evidence from those countries which have already adopted this legislation such as Canada to raise legitimate concerns about the abuse of such legislation.” Proposals to change the law to give terminally ill people ‘choice at the end of life’ are to be introduced in Parliament this month MPs supportive of the assisted dying legislation have argued that the process would complement rather than replace palliative care provisions. However, fears remain that the new law could divert focus from the palliative care and hospice sector.
“They’re not mutually exclusive things. And actually, what is really good is that we’re having these conversations now as a result of this bill,” she said.
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