A historic bid to legalise assisted dying is set to reach a milestone moment as it returns to the Commons for key votes.
MPs are debating the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – spearheaded by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater – on Friday for the first time since November’s yes vote. If it becomes law it would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales – with fewer than six months left to live – to apply for an assisted death.
Ms Leadbeater told MPs it is a “privilege” to open the debate. The Labour MP says she has “nothing but admiration” for the terminally ill people she has met and says this Bill is about giving them “choice”.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has already intervened in the debate a number of times. He has urged MPs not to talk about their views on assisted dying more widely, and to stay focused on the amendments tabled to the Bill. Sir Lindsay has also told off MPs for talking too long, talking them he wants “short interventions, not speeches”.
After months of intense scrutiny, MPs will vote on key amendments this afternoon before a crunch vote on the controversial issue next month. Campaigners for and against assisted dying are expected to be watching the debate from the public gallery of the House of Commons.
But opponents of the have argued the Bill does not have enough safeguards and has been rushed through. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has said it believes there are “concerning deficiencies” with the proposed legislation as it stands while the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) said it has “serious concerns” and cannot support the current Bill.
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