Assisted suicide Bill ‘unworkable’, says Shadow Justice Secretary

A lack of court time and a shortage of judges renders Kim Leadbeater’s proposals on assisted suicide “unworkable”, the Shadow Justice Secretary has warned.

In a letter to his opposite number Shabana Mahmood, Robert Jenrick said the “full implications” of the Leadbeater Bill for the judiciary had not been properly considered.

Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is due to be debated at the end of this month. Under the Bill, all requests for assisted suicide must be approved by a High Court judge.

Inadequacies

Mr Jenrick wrote: “Having consulted with members of the judiciary and senior practitioners, there is significant concern that the assisting dying procedure outlined in the Private Member’s Bill is unworkable.”

He explained that the estimated additional workload for the courts “would simply be impossible to manage in any reasonable timeframe” and expressed concern that the Bill provides no opt-out for judges “who may have a sincere, conscientious objection to their involvement”.

The Shadow Minister also questioned why vulnerable patients will be able to request the approval of the court to end their lives without the involvement of close family members.

He said they were “best placed to provide evidence and information on the situation of the individual, including to raise concerns about coercion or other impropriety”.

Voting against the Bill

In recent days, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, has restated his concerns about removing end-of-protections for the vulnerable.

our focus should be on improving palliative care

He said that far from the Bill giving people more choice, he feared “some terminally ill people will feel they have no choice but to end their lives prematurely, whether to avoid being a burden or to escape inadequate palliative care at the end”.

“Instead, our focus should be on improving palliative care and fixing the whole health and care crisis.”

Speaking to LBC, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has also indicated that she will vote against the Bill. Since opposing a change in the law in 2015, she told presenter Nick Ferrari, “I haven’t changed my mind”.