Kim Leadbeater, the MP behind the new and controversial assisted suicide bill, has been criticised for deciding the first committee sitting would sit partly in private – and for producing a list of potential witnesses broadly supporting the bill.
The committee has already issued a call for written evidence. But when the committee met for the first time on 21 January, Leadbeater told members some of the sitting would be in private to respect ‘individuals’ privacy’.
But Danny Kruger, a Christian MP, said it was ‘inappropriate’ to sit in private and there was 'clear public interest' in decisions being made. Any concerns about witnesses should, he added, be aired in public.
He also expressed concern that out of 60 names suggested on a witness list, 38 were in favour of the Bill. None were from deaf or disabled people’s organisations, nor were there any lawyers who oppose the bill. The list also included eight witnesses from foreign jurisdictions who support assisted dying in their jurisdictions, but no one speaking against how assisted dying laws internationally operate.
Witnesses will begin giving oral evidence this week (28 January) and line-by-line scrutiny of the bill will begin on 4 February.
Withdrawal of support
The new assisted suicide bill could yet fail, if as few as 30 MPs withdraw their support for the proposals.
MPs recently voted 330 to 275 in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, bringing England, Wales and Northern Ireland significantly closer to legalising assisted suicide. The Guardian newspaper reported that it would have taken just 28 MPs to vote against it to stop the Bill in its tracks.
A committee formed to scrutinise the proposals has now issued a call for written evidence. The law would allow terminally ill individuals with six months at most to live, and have mental capacity, to choose assisted suicide. However, some MPs who supported the bill have since expressed concerns over its provisions.
As drafted, doctors will be able to raise assisted suicide with a patient even if the patient has not raised it. It says doctors can exercise ‘their professional judgment to decide if, and when, it is appropriate to discuss the matter with a person’.
But Roz Savage MP (Liberal Democrat) says decisions must be ‘patient-led, not doctor-led’ to avoid undue influence. She added that if people are to have ‘a genuine choice then hospice care needs to be a viable, affordable, accessible option – and for too many it isn’t’.
Labour MP Mike Tapp said the bill should state that doctors should not raise assisted dying with a patient who has not done so. He told the BBC: ‘This helps mitigate the risk of accidental coercion, or the perception of a hint, at a time of immense emotional distress and vulnerability.’
The British Medical Association has pushed back, claiming that to prohibit medics from raising assisted dying with patients would amount to ‘gagging’ doctors.
Medical experts, lawyers and other professionals have also added their voices to the concerns raised, including Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson (pictured), who has spina bifida. She has warned of the implications for the disabled.
Speaking on BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on 12 January, she said: ‘Disabled people will feel that they have no other choice but to end their lives if this gets onto the statute books.’
The bill has brought to the fore the dire state of palliative care in the UK, with many hospices facing serious costs challenges and some closures. Layla Moran MP, who chairs the Health and Social Care Committee and supported the bill, said it would be ‘foolish’ for the government ‘not to heed warnings from doctors about palliative care and ‘the impact that this is potentially going to have on very vulnerable patients’.
Responding to calls for evidence
The bill’s committee includes Kim Leadbeater (who put forward the bill),13 further MPs across the floor who voted in favour of the Bill and nine against. It includes Stephen Kinnock MP (minister for palliative care) and Sarah Sackman KC MP (minister for Courts and Legal Services).
Anyone with ‘relevant expertise’ is urged to respond to the committee’s call for evidence. While this includes doctors, terminally ill patients and church leaders – it also includes anyone who wishes to have a say. You can contribute by visiting www.parliament.uk/business/news/2025/january/terminally-ill-adults-end-of-life-bill-call-for-evidence/
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