Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has criticised the lack of time given to scrutinising Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill, and suggested that the legislation is being rushed through.
Prior to next month’s vote at Third Reading, Cabinet minister Mahmood has expressed her concerns about the “inadequacies” of a Private Members’ Bill as a suitable “vehicle for such wide societal change”.
A Private Members’ Bill was the same mechanism used in Parliament to legalise abortion in 1967 and Mahmood was critical of the “curtailed” and “short” nature of the Report Stage debate earlier this month, saying “I can see why campaigning backbench members of parliament will think, ‘If we were able to do this for abortion for example a few decades ago we can use the same mechanism now’”.
“But there are huge implications here and the debate that we’re having is curtailed, it is short. We saw that last Friday. I don’t think it’s the right thing to do”.
“Inadequacies of private members’ bills” criticised
Mahmood added “I do think that this process has shown the inadequacies of private members’ bills as a vehicle for such wide societal change”.
Mahmood, who voted against the legalisation of assisted suicide at Second Reading last November, and also in 2015, confirmed her opposition to the Leadbeater Bill, saying “My views [on assisted suicide] are well known. They haven’t changed between Second Reading and the debate we had last Friday and what will happen when we get to Third Reading”.
Mahmood’s criticisms of the process follow similar comments that were made during the Report Stage debate, which was branded as “chaotic” and “a disaster” after MPs debated only two of over 100 amendments put forward before running out of time.
Naz Shah MP, who served on the Committee considering the Bill, said the process was “fundamentally flawed”.
“This is not how we make legislation. I take my responsibility extremely seriously, as I am sure everybody in this House does. This is literally a matter of life and death”.
A number of other MPs raised concerns about the rushed nature of the debate. While MPs were initially requested to keep their contributions to under 15 minutes, as time went on, this was reduced to five minutes. More than 90 MPs indicated they wished to speak on over 60 amendments in the little over four hours of debate. In the end, only 28 were able to speak.
MPs, both in favour and opposed to the Bill, noted the lack of time for discussion, with Daniel Francis MP among those who had to refuse interventions due to “time constraints”.
Meg Hillier MP echoed others’ concerns, saying “We have not got time to go into the detail that we need to consider”.
Hillier suggested the process of the Bill had been rushed with limited opportunity for MPs outside of the Bill Committee to scrutinise the proposed legislation properly. “We are not a debating society; we are now legislating for a law that would enable the state to assist in people taking their lives. I am sad that we are able to discuss these amendments only now. I did not get the opportunity to be on the Bill Committee”, she added.
Another setback for Kim Leadbeater
The Justice Secretary’s comments are another setback for Leadbeater because the Ministry of Justice would be partly responsible for the implementation of the assisted suicide Bill if it were to become law. Mahmood has repeatedly raised her concerns about the Bill, warning that “The right to die, for some, will – inexorably and inevitably – become the duty to die for others” and saying “The state should never offer death as a service”.
Following her critical comments around the process, Mahmood came under fire from Esther Rantzen, former TV personality and assisted suicide activist, for supposedly using “religious reasons” to “prevent” people from accessing assisted suicide. Writing under the name Esther Wilcox, Rantzen wrote “People like the Justice Minister…have their own religious reasons to refuse assisted dying and should have the right to choose, but not to prevent others with different beliefs from having the choice”.
However, Rantzen’s comments were dismissed by Kevin Yuill, interim Director of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (HAASE), who said “This is desperate from [assisted suicide] extremists. The accusation that no one opposes it without ‘religious reasons’ is a lie. This is about our essential humanity, not religion. Emile Durkheim, JS Mill and other non-religious [people] opposed suicide of all stripes”.
Esther Rantzen’s comments dismissed as “frankly insulting”
Rantzen’s comments follow a letter she sent to MPs prior to the Report Stage Debate, alleging that opponents of the Bill had “undeclared religious beliefs”, which prompted a “furious response”. Journalist Kitty Donaldson said “MPs who oppose assisted dying are absolutely furious with Dame Esther Rantzen who has sent them a letter accusing them of ‘undeclared religious beliefs’”. Jess Asato MP said “Many of us found this distasteful and disrespectful”, whilst Labour MP Florence Eshalomi dismissed the comments as “frankly insulting to disabled people, hardworking professionals up and down the country who have raised many valid concerns about this bill, to have it dismissed as religious beliefs”. Eshalomi added “As politicians we have to be clear that members with valid concerns about this bill are not raising it because of some ideology or religious belief”.
Kieran Mullan, the Shadow Minister for Justice, also criticised the “unhelpful remarks”, saying “Although I am not religious, I was concerned to see the clumsy criticism of those whose objections to the bill are thought to be centred in their religious beliefs”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Shabana Mahmood is right to highlight the ‘inadequacies’ in the chaotic process of this flawed and dangerous Bill. These inadequacies were on full view during the debate at Report Stage, which revealed even deeper cracks in both the content of the Bill and the chaotic process surrounding it”.
“This is highly concerning and simply unacceptable when the issue at hand is literally one of life and death. Legalising assisted suicide would be an utter disaster and those who are vulnerable would be most at risk”.
“It is vital that MPs are aware of the profound dangers that lie in Kim Leadbeater’s reckless legislation and vote it down”.
