After Committee Stage scrutiny, the Health Secretary has confirmed that he has not changed his mind about the assisted suicide Bill and will not be voting for the Bill when it returns to the Commons.
While Wes Streeting did vote in support of an assisted suicide Bill in 2015, as Health Secretary, he voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at Second Reading in November and, earlier this week, confirmed that he would not be voting for the Bill.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, when asked if he would vote for it, he said “No, I won’t be voting for it”.
He went on to say that it is “fine” that other colleagues in the Government “take a different view”.
“It’s a free vote and it will remain so as this Bill goes through”.
Streeting remains opposed to assisted suicide Bill
Before the vote at Second Reading in November, Wes Streeting asked his department to produce a detailed report on the cost of assisted suicide if it becomes legal and raised concerns that cuts will have to be made elsewhere in the NHS.
“I would hate for people to opt for assisted dying because they think they’re saving someone somewhere money, whether that’s relatives or the NHS. And I think that’s one of the issues that MPs are wrestling with as they decide how to cast their vote”, he said at the time.
Speaking to reporters at an NHS Providers conference in Liverpool, when asked about Leadbeater’s Bill, he said “Now that we’ve seen the bill published, I’ve asked my department to look at the costs that would be associated with providing a new service to enable assisted dying to go forward”.
“That work is now under way, so I can’t give you a precise figure today. You do touch on… the potential for cost savings if people choose to opt for assisted dying rather than stay in the care of providers or the NHS. I think that is a chilling slippery slope argument”.
Delivering assisted suicide would “come at the expense of other competing pressures and priorities”, he added.
Streeting also told Times Radio that “Those choices [to implement assisted suicide] would come at the expense of other choices”.
“To govern is to choose. If parliament chooses to go ahead with assisted dying, it is making a choice that this is an area to prioritise for investment. And we’d have to work through those implications”.
Report stage delayed until 16 May
Since Second Reading, the Bill, which will allow medical professionals to provide assistance in suicide for people who are thought to have six months or fewer to live, has been through Committee Stage. During this stage, 393 amendments were tabled by MPs opposed to the Bill at Second Reading. Commenting on the small number of these amendments that were accepted by the Committee, Lord Jackson of Peterborough said “just seven of these amendments appear objectively likely to increase safeguards in a way that would otherwise not have happened”.
Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater came under fire earlier this week after delaying the next stage of her assisted suicide Bill by three weeks, leading to accusations that the Bill is “shrouded in chaos” and concerns that it is unfit for purpose.
Leadbeater wrote to all 650 MPs saying the next stage of the debate, Report Stage, will now take place on 16 May rather than 25 April. On 2 April, she had rejected calls to delay the vote, with Labour backbenchers concerned voters would be put off by “heated and acrimonious” disagreement between Labour MPs so close to local elections on 1 May. A week later, Leadbeater changed her mind, announcing the delay the day before the start of Easter recess.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The Health Secretary is right to maintain his opposition to this dangerous Bill. Streeting’s continued opposition to the Bill will come as a significant blow to the pro-assisted suicide campaign and even more so after the Bill was allegedly ‘strengthened’ during Committee Stage”.
