MPs backing assisted dying bill suggest concerns could cause them to change their position

Some MPs who backed the assisted dying bill indicated they might consider changing their minds during the process amid concerns about the provision of palliative care and safeguarding.

MPs will be able to propose amendments to the legislation when it reaches the next parliamentary stage – committee stage, on a date yet to be announced.

MPs voted 330 to 275 on Friday, a majority of 55, to approve Labor MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at its second reading.

Following the historic vote, some MPs expressed concerns about parts of the bill that could prevent them from voting in favor of it later in the process.

“I think we all want it to be a good Bill,” she said.

“I hope that colleagues in the House, especially those who voted for it, will reserve the right to vote against it at further stages.”

She said arguments against the plans should be taken “extremely seriously”.

Ms Moran said “what I’m particularly interested in is palliative care” and added: “I don’t think we need additional votes in the House to make it clear that the will of Parliament is that the government wants them to sort out palliative care.” care”.

Senior Conservative MP Sir David Davis – another supporter of the bill – used his Commons speech to ask the government for more time to scrutinize it to “give us time to get it right”.

He told the Commons: “I want this bill to succeed, it is more important than most bills we have. This cannot be dealt with in five hours and several hours in committee.

“I’m going to vote for it today, but I want the government to help me vote for a good bill at the end of this process.”

Labor MP Chris Webb suggested his position on the issue could change as the plans progress, saying in a statement that he believed “this bill deserves to go to the next stage for further scrutiny and debate” and he “will consider my position again at subsequent stages.”

There were three Conservative and 18 Labor MPs with no votes recorded on Friday.

SNP MPs did not vote because the issue concerned only England and Wales.

There are many reasons why an MP might not be able to vote – for example, being abroad or outside of Parliament – but some indicated that they deliberately abstained.

Josh Fenton-Glynn, the new Labor MP for the Calder Valley, said he had abstained because “as it stands, I don’t think the guarantees are strong enough”.

Although he previously thought he would “support such a bill,” he said in a statement on social media that he would make his “final decision based on the bill as written, which makes it to the committee stage.”

End of life care charity Marie Curie also raised concerns about palliative care and called on MPs to enshrine in legislation a commitment to develop a strategy on the issue.

At a briefing sent to MPs ahead of the second reading, they said they wanted a legislative amendment that would put ministers in charge of developing a strategy to improve palliative and end-of-life care.

The charity’s chief executive, Matthew Reid, said the organization is “neutral” on end-of-life care, “but what we are absolutely not neutral on is the urgent need to fix end-of-life care.”

In a statement after the vote, Mr Reid said: “Keeping words will not fix our broken aged care system. The bill says nothing about the urgent need to improve the current situation. It says nothing about the postal lottery for access to end-of-life care, nothing about the financial crisis and nothing about people spending their last moments in emergency departments because our health system fails to offer them the care and support they need. they need, on or off-hours.”

On Saturday, mother of the house Diane Abbott said she was “concerned that vulnerable people will be put on the path to assisted dying”.

Ms Abbott was one of 275 MPs who voted against the plans in Parliament.

Asked why, the Hackney North and Stoke MP Newington told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m very concerned that vulnerable people are being pushed into assisted dying when in fact what they really need is , is access to hospice care and appropriate end of life.” lifelong care.”

She said she has “total sympathy” for other positions, but wants people to “not consider supported suicide to be the only option” if they have concerns such as “a burden” or worries about family finances.