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| David Cameron opposes any move to legalise assisted dying | David Cameron opposes any move to legalise assisted dying |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| David Cameron does not favour any move to legalise assisted dying, Downing Street has said. | David Cameron does not favour any move to legalise assisted dying, Downing Street has said. |
| MPs are due to debate the ethically fraught issue in the House of Commons for the first time in around 20 years on Friday, after Labour’s Rob Marris laid a private members bill that would give terminally ill patients the right to die. | MPs are due to debate the ethically fraught issue in the House of Commons for the first time in around 20 years on Friday, after Labour’s Rob Marris laid a private members bill that would give terminally ill patients the right to die. |
| It is not clear whether Cameron will vote on the second reading of the bill but his official spokeswoman said: “The PM’s views are clear on this issue. He is not convinced further steps need to be taken and he is not in favour of an approach that would take us closer to euthanasia.” | It is not clear whether Cameron will vote on the second reading of the bill but his official spokeswoman said: “The PM’s views are clear on this issue. He is not convinced further steps need to be taken and he is not in favour of an approach that would take us closer to euthanasia.” |
| Related: Assisted dying bill raises hopes and fears for end-of-life care | Letters | |
| His opposition to the idea is significant, as private members bills rarely make it on to the statute book without a degree of government backing to give it time for debate in parliament. However, it would be difficult for Downing Street to ignore the will of MPs if there was a strong vote in favour. | His opposition to the idea is significant, as private members bills rarely make it on to the statute book without a degree of government backing to give it time for debate in parliament. However, it would be difficult for Downing Street to ignore the will of MPs if there was a strong vote in favour. |
| The prime minister has previously said he remained unconvinced about the arguments, although he was happy for MPs to debate the subject. | |
| Peers discussed the arguments in the last parliament when Lord Falconer introduced an assisted dying bill, which would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose to terminally ill patients judged to have less than six months to live. They were evenly split when it was given its second reading in the House of Lords and the legislation was nodded through to committee stage without division. | Peers discussed the arguments in the last parliament when Lord Falconer introduced an assisted dying bill, which would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose to terminally ill patients judged to have less than six months to live. They were evenly split when it was given its second reading in the House of Lords and the legislation was nodded through to committee stage without division. |
| However, it was held up by amendments and ran out of time before the end of the last parliament. After the election, Falconer suggested his proposals would have more of a chance if they were taken up by an MP in the Commons. | However, it was held up by amendments and ran out of time before the end of the last parliament. After the election, Falconer suggested his proposals would have more of a chance if they were taken up by an MP in the Commons. |
| There have been several attempts before that to change the law. Lord Joffe introduced the assisted dying for the terminally ill bill in 2004, but peers did not end up voting on it until 2006 when they split 148 to 100 against it. | |
| Related: In a culture that abuses its elders, this assisted dying bill would be a disaster | James Mumford | |
| Former Labour cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt also tried to table an amendment to the coroners and justice bill in 2008 to allow relatives to help people travel abroad to commit suicide but this was not called. | |
| MPs are currently being furiously lobbied by both sides of the campaign. Earlier this week, a group of senior doctors wrote to the Guardian saying the current law on assisted dying is “dangerous, cruel” by forcing terminally ill patients to end their lives abroad. | MPs are currently being furiously lobbied by both sides of the campaign. Earlier this week, a group of senior doctors wrote to the Guardian saying the current law on assisted dying is “dangerous, cruel” by forcing terminally ill patients to end their lives abroad. |
| On the other side, campaigners such as paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson argue that disabled people in particular are worried about the implications of passing such a bill. | On the other side, campaigners such as paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson argue that disabled people in particular are worried about the implications of passing such a bill. |
| “I fear that the MP Rob Marris’s assisted dying bill, which will get its second reading in parliament on Friday, would exacerbate the assumption that because there may be some things I cannot do, everything must be negative. The prospect of changing the criminal law on encouraging and assisting suicide, as this bill would do, fills me with dread,” she wrote in the Guardian. | “I fear that the MP Rob Marris’s assisted dying bill, which will get its second reading in parliament on Friday, would exacerbate the assumption that because there may be some things I cannot do, everything must be negative. The prospect of changing the criminal law on encouraging and assisting suicide, as this bill would do, fills me with dread,” she wrote in the Guardian. |
| Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, is among the faith leaders who warned in the Observer that Britain will cross a “legal and ethical Rubicon” if parliament votes to permit terminally ill patients to end their lives. | Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, is among the faith leaders who warned in the Observer that Britain will cross a “legal and ethical Rubicon” if parliament votes to permit terminally ill patients to end their lives. |