Cabinet minister: ‘Vulnerable need end-of-life protections’

Legalising assisted suicide may put the lives of vulnerable people at risk, the Business Secretary has said.

Jonathan Reynolds MP told The House magazine that he “wouldn’t vote for assisted dying to be introduced”.

As a matter of personal conscience, he explained, “I would really worry about how we would protect vulnerable people from that”.

Dilemmas

Reynolds joins fellow Cabinet member Wes Streeting MP in expressing disquiet about allowing terminally ill people to seek the help of doctors to end their lives.

Last month, the Health Secretary admitted to being “conflicted” on assisted suicide. Beyond the difficult philosophical and ethical questions raised by the issue, Streeting said, “are a whole series of practical ones about which I am deeply uncomfortable”.

He explained: “How do you make sure that people aren’t coerced into exercising their right to die, if it were available? I don’t just mean direct coercion and inducement. The burden of guilt – what one might feel about being a burden on their families, even if their families didn’t even remotely feel like they were a burden.”

Furthermore, Streeting feared that vulnerable patients may feel “coerced” into considering assisted suicide through a lack of palliative care support.

Westminster

The House of Lords is expected to debate legalising assisted suicide over the coming months after Labour Peer Lord Falconer of Thoroton introduced his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill in July.

Labour backbench MP Kim Leadbeater is set to formally introduce her Private Members’ Bill on assisted suicide in the House of Commons on 16 October, although the details have not been finalised.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is “personally in favour of changing the law”, has already pledged to allow parliamentary time for a Private Members’ Bill to legalise assisted suicide.

The most recent legislation on assisted suicide to be voted on in Westminster was defeated by 330 to 118 in 2015.