Keir Starmer voted in favour of state assisted suicide
by Andrew Holloway
Sir Keir Starmer’s government allowed a free vote on the Assisted Dying Bill on 29 November, which the House of Commons voted for with a majority of 330 to 275, but those opposed to the bill have complained that the legislation is being rushed through. Kim Leadbeater MP’s bill was released only two weeks before the vote, giving MPs and the public little time to scrutinise this important and complex legislation. Right to Life UK said: “When MPs last voted on the issue, MPs and the public were given almost two months to scrutinise the bill before it was voted on… Similarly, earlier this year Lord Falconer introduced an assisted suicide bill in the House of Lords (his seventh attempt at a law change) and gave almost four months for it to be scrutinised.”
(Photo – Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – Picture by Simon Dawson/ No 10 Downing Street)
A survey of palliative care doctors found that 82 per cent oppose assisted suicide. Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said: “With an NHS described by the sitting Health Secretary as ‘broken’, and the 100,000 people who need palliative care each year dying without receiving it, this rushed assisted suicide legislation is a disaster in waiting.”
Opponents to assisted dying, such as Christian MP Danny Kruger, say that people wouldn’t be considering suicide if more palliative care was available. However, hospices, along with care homes, pharmacies and GP surgeries, say they will struggle to meet the increased employer’s National Insurance tax hike next April. Only the NHS is exempt from the tax rise. During questions to the health minister in Parliament, it was revealed that the children’s hospice serving Surrey, which needs £10 million a year to run and receives just 30 per cent of its funding from the government, will have to find an extra £200,000 for its employees come April.
The health minister merely responded to all concerns raised by saying that the Government was aware of their situations but had no plans to exempt other health care providers from the tax rise. Meanwhile, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said that the bill is flawed because “there are not enough judges to approve decisions by terminally ill people”, according to Charles Hymas, writing in The Telegraph. In a letter to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Jenrick “said there was a ‘real risk’ that people considering assisted dying would die before the decision was taken to court because of delays caused by a shortage of judges. He also warned that a terminally ill person’s close relatives could be cut out of the process and denied any right of appeal.” Hymas added: “He cited evidence of the judicial shortages from Sir James Munby, the former president of the family division, about the courts that will probably hear assisted dying cases. Sir James estimated it could take up 34,000 hours of court time, when there are only 19,000 sitting hours a year.”