The Welsh Parliament (Senedd) will have an opportunity to vote on whether a Bill to legalise assisted suicide, which is being debated in Westminster, will apply to Wales.
Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which seeks to legalise assisted suicide for adults who are thought to have six months or fewer to live and is currently being debated in Westminster, was amended during Committee stage so that Senedd approval would be required before assisted suicide could be implemented in Wales.
In addition, on Wednesday of this week, the Welsh Government published a Legislative Consent Memorandum (LCM) confirming that Labour ministers in Wales are of the view that the Leadbeater Bill requires the consent of the Senedd.
The LCM says the Bill contains provisions that concern “devolved matters and therefore trigger the requirement for consent”.
While the Bill intends to amend the Suicide Act 1961, which the Welsh Parliament is not responsible for, there are clauses within the Bill that do affect matters for which the Senedd is responsible.
This includes the Chief Medical Officer for Wales drawing up guidance on how the act operates, and powers for Welsh ministers to provide an assisted suicide service.
Senedd approval needed before assisted suicide made legal in Wales
The LCM follows a debate in the assisted suicide Bill Committee towards the end of March in which MPs on the Committee voted 12-11 in favour of an amendment (535) that would require Senedd approval before assisted suicide could be implemented in Wales.
The Liberal Democrat MP, Sarah Olney, argued that since the Senedd rejected in principle support for assisted suicide in October last year, Members of the Senedd should have a say in the implementation of assisted suicide. She said that among “those who voted against were a number of Welsh Government Ministers, including First Minister Eluned Morgan, and I believe that in three political parties—Labour, Plaid [Cymru] and the Conservatives—there was a majority against. In that context—as Professor Emyr Lewis, who gave evidence to the Committee, has stated—it would be constitutionally wrong to pass the Bill without the consent of the Welsh Senedd”.
Senedd rejects assisted suicide motion
Last October, the Senedd voted decisively to reject a motion calling for Westminster to introduce assisted suicide, making it clear that the Welsh Senedd opposes the imposition of assisted suicide on Wales by MPs.
Senedd members voted 26 votes to 19 against the motion. The Welsh First Minister, Eluned Morgan and Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles, both voted against the motion.
There was opposition from Senedd members from all major parties, including Labour, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives.
During the debate, Delyth Jewell, Plaid Cymru member for South Wales East, said “My fear with this motion—well, my terror, really—is not so much with how it will begin as with how it will end”.
“There are safeguards in what is being proposed in Westminster, indeed there are, but every precedent we see internationally shows that no safeguard is sacrosanct; the experiences of Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and some states in the US show what can so easily, so inevitably, happen”.
“Laws are first introduced for people who are terminally ill, as is being proposed in Westminster, and bit by bit, the safeguards have been eroded so that now people with depression, with anorexia, and many other non-terminal disorders can qualify—disorders from which people can recover, lives that will have been ended that might have got better”.
Joel James, member for South Wales Central, said “It has been repeatedly proven that assisted dying laws, when introduced, descend quickly into a range of problems, from coercion by relatives to the hand-picking of specific doctors willing to euthanise. It would, I believe, set a dangerous precedent and lead to a catalogue of unintended consequences if it was introduced into the UK”.
Darren Millar, member for Clwyd West, said “[L]egalising assisted suicide would send a clear message that some lives are not worth living, and I don’t think that that’s a message that any civilised society, frankly, should be promoting to any of its citizens, especially when there are many people across Wales right now who are enjoying a fulfilling life in spite of their terminal illness, or in spite of a debilitating condition”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The LCM published earlier this week, as well as Olney’s amendment, should ensure that the Senedd has a say on dangerous legislation. Hopefully, MPs in Westminster will vote against the assisted suicide Bill at Third Reading and there will be no need for a follow-up debate in Wales”.
“The potential difficulty of forcing assisted suicide on Wales, when the Senedd is clearly opposed to the principle, is yet another reason MPs should oppose this dreadful Bill”.
