Newly proposed changes to the assisted dying bill have caused controversy as MPs weigh up whether they will continue supporting the legislation at the final vote on Friday.
Put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who tabled the original bill, the changes have reformed a major safeguarding measure that was included in the original version.
Ms Leadbeater says her amendment would make the bill “even more robust,” but others have responded critically. Veteran member Diane Abbott, a vocal opponent of the legislation, wrote on X: “Safeguards on the Assisted Dying Bill are collapsing. Rushed, badly thought-out legislation. Needs to be voted down.”
Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron added: “Lots of MPs voted for the bill at second reading in the expectation that there would be stronger safeguards added at committee stage and yet we now see that even the weak safeguards that existed, are being dropped.”
The amended version of the bill was given back on 28 March after a public bill committee considered over 500 amendments where around one-third were agreed.
On Friday, MPs will gather in the House of Common for the bill’s report stage, the first chance for all MPs to consider further amendments before a third reading.
Here’s everything you need to know about the changes:
What are the proposed changes to the bill?
The most significant of the amendments was Ms Leadbeater’s change to how an application for assisted dying is authorised. In the original version of the bill, a High Court judge would need to decide on every single case – but this requirement could now be removed.
Instead, Ms Leadbeater proposed that a “voluntary assisted dying commission” should be created to “introduce a multidisciplinary layer of protection”. This would be chaired by a High Court judge or former senior judge, so a judicial element would be retained.
This commission would authorise multidisciplinary “Assisted Dying Review Panels” to look at applications for assisted dying. These would comprise a senior legal figure, alongside a consultant psychiatrist and a social worker, who Ms Leadbeater says will use their expertise in “assessing mental capacity and identifying any risk of coercion.”
Writing in The Guardian, the Spen Valley MP calls this process ‘Judge Plus’. She adds that this is an evidence-based approach, and that fears around coercion have “rarely, if ever, been borne out in practice.”
Other amendments will require the doctors assessing assisted dying requests to have detailed training on domestic abuse, including coercive control and financial abuse, and reasonable adjustments and safeguards for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
As well, doctors must discuss assisted dying in conjunction with other options, for example, palliative care, symptom management and psychological support.
Amendments also make independent advocates available for people who “may experience substantial difficulty in understanding the processes or information relevant” to the assisted dying process.
The commencement period has also been increased from two years to four years in England, meaning that the majority of the bill’s provisions must be implemented within four years of it becoming law.
Meanwhile, other issues remain up for discussion. Whether medical practitioners may raise the subject of assisted dying with a patient, for example, is a clause that Meg Hillier, senior Labour MP, is calling for a change to.
Will the assisted dying bill still become law?
Whether the assisted dying bill still passes into law is, in theory, down to just 28 MPs. This is the number of members that would need to switch from a yes to no vote to shoot down the bill for good.
Due to the amendments, there’s a good chance many MPs will change their minds on backing the legislation at all. Analysis has suggested that as many as 81 members could pull their backing following the changes.
This is because at least 61 MPs said before the second reading of the bill that the High Court safeguard was a key reason for their support, while a further 20 cited ‘judicial protections.’
These figures would suggest that the assisted dying bill won’t get through its final vote if the High Court is removed from the safeguarding process.
A number of MPs who previously abstained have decided to vote against it on Friday, among them Lee Anderson and his former Reform UK colleague Rupert Lowe, who have publicly stated they will change their vote.
However, it may also be the case that Ms Leadbeater’s proposed ‘Judge Plus’ system proves strong enough for the required number of MPs.
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