I am getting in touch to let you know that tomorrow is a very big day on the assisted suicide front in Westminster – the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill is having its first day of Committee Stage, its next major stage in the House of Lords.
Committee Stage is when Peers examine the Bill line by line, debate proposed amendments, and can vote on them if needed.
Incredibly, almost 1,000 amendments have been tabled to the Bill!
This is already close to the most amendments ever tabled to any Bill in UK history and, with more likely to come, it is on track to break that record.
This sheer number of amendments demonstrates that Peers, including those who are, in principle, supportive of assisted suicide, are increasingly identifying how flawed this dangerous Bill is. It must never become law.
This follows a record number of over 200 Peers putting their names down to speak at Second Reading. Over two-thirds of the Peers who spoke in the debate opposed the Bill.
You can watch Committee Stage live on Parliament TV tomorrow from around 10.15 am here. Our team will be sharing key video clips and live updates throughout the day on our X account.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS – WESTMINSTER
Yesterday, the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which is chaired by Lord Alton, held a special evidence session on the potential effect of the assisted suicide Bill on the human rights of disabled people.
Despite pro-assisted suicide members of the Committee attempting to stop the session from taking place, it ended up going ahead.
Among the witnesses giving evidence was disability rights activist, actor and comedian, Liz Carr, who is known for starring on the BBC’s Silent Witness, Marvel’s Loki, The OA and many other major TV series and films.
She also wrote and presented Better Off Dead?, an award-winning BBC documentary exposing the huge risks assisted suicide and euthanasia pose for people with disabilities. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend watching it. You can view it online here.
At the evidence session yesterday, she brilliantly set out the blurred boundary between disability and terminal illness – and frighteningly explained how easy it would be for someone like her to convince a panel of her eligibility to die under an assisted suicide law.
She told the Committee that we should be working towards ensuring everyone has the best possible access to high-quality end-of-life care, rather than passing legislation to hasten death.
SCOTTISH ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL – FIRST DAY OF STAGE 2
The first day of Stage 2 of the Scottish McArthur assisted suicide Bill took place on Tuesday.
This was the next major stage of this Bill at Holyrood, where there is line-by-line scrutiny, and amendments can be proposed and voted on.
Over 250 amendments have been proposed to the Bill – a clear sign of how problematic the McArthur Bill is – and a number of these were voted on Tuesday by the Committee overseeing Stage 2.
The Committee is made up of overwhelmingly pro-assisted suicide MSPs, but even taking this into account, it was shocking to see that these pro-assisted suicide MSPs voted down several sensible changes to the Bill, including amendments to:
- protect people with eating disorders
- restrict assisted suicide only to those with six months left to live
- require terminally ill people to be offered support before assisted suicide can be approved
- ensure adequate palliative care is available before assisted suicide can be approved
- prohibit doctors from raising assisted suicide unprompted
- ensure an opt-in model for medics to protect conscience rights
The rejection of these amendments and others demonstrates how extreme the assisted suicide lobby and the MSPs they are working with are.
If you missed day one of Stage 2 of the Scottish Bill, you can read our wrap-up article on Right To Life News here, which highlights the most important moments from the day.
Stage 2 will continue on Tuesday (18 November) next week. You will be able to follow along on Scottish Parliament TV from 9am on Tuesday here – and our team will also share key video clips and live commentary throughout the day on our X account.