Assisted dying committee to meet formally for first time after historic vote

The assisted dying Bill needs to be tightened “at pretty much every stage”, a leading opponent and member of the committee set to scrutinise it has said.

Conservative MP Danny Kruger – who is at odds with his mother, Great British Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith in her support for legalisation – is among 23 MPs who will meet for the first formal sitting of the assisted dying committee on Tuesday.

Ahead of what is expected to be a session to agree meeting dates over the course of the next few months as well as who will give evidence to the committee, Mr Kruger said there are a raft of amendments he feels need to be made to the proposed legislation.

Kim Leadbeater’s Bill could see terminally ill adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live legally allowed to end their lives, subject to approval by two doctors and a High Court judge.

As lead MP for opponents of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill during its first Commons debate in November, he previously said he believed Parliament can do “better” for terminally ill people than a “state suicide service”.

The historic yes vote that day means the legislation will now undergo line-by-line scrutiny by the committee over the coming months, before going back to the Commons for further debate among all MPs at its report stage.

Mr Kruger told the PA news agency he had not changed his opposition stance, but added: “I am going to do my job and try and make sure the Bill is as good as it can be and as safe as it can be.”

Ms Leadbeater has previously said the committee “will bring together colleagues with differing views and valuable experience in order to give the Bill the detailed scrutiny it deserves and requires”.

Asked what changes he and others might seek to make, Mr Kruger said: “There’s loads, from the beginning to the end of the Bill.

“From the concept of terminal illness, which I think needs much closer definition, right through to the process of a doctor approving you and so on, through to the judicial stage and then the method of death itself, how the drugs are administered and what drugs are allowed and so on.

“At pretty much every stage, I think the Bill needs to be tightened if it’s to achieve what Kim and others want it to.”

The committee is expected to have three days of oral evidence next week, during which it is likely to hear from medical and legal professionals.

Mr Kruger said it is still possible the Bill will be stopped.

He said: “The Second Reading debate (in November) was just a vote to continue discussion on the detail of the Bill.

“It was a vote in support of the general principle of assisted dying, of what the Bill is trying to achieve.

“The actual detail of how it would be done is now for debate and it might well be that enough MPs don’t feel that it is going to be done in a way that they regard as safe.”

Some MPs have indicated their support for the Bill might not continue at a further vote, if they are not convinced of strong safeguards around things like potential coercion.

The committee is made up of 14 MPs who voted in favour of the Bill and nine who voted against, and features two Government ministers.

Care minister Stephen Kinnock and Justice minister Sarah Sackman both voted for the Bill last November, although their respective bosses, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood voted against.

The committee’s first meeting comes a day ahead of the the newly-formed Commission on Palliative and End of Life Care holding its first evidence session.

The independent commission has been set up by Labour MP Rachael Maskell and crossbench peer Baroness Finlay of Llandaff to look into the state of and challenges facing palliative and end-of-life care.

Baroness Finlay has previously stressed that the commission is “completely separate” from the assisted dying committee, adding that no matter what happens with that proposed legislation “we’ve got to do something about patient care”.

On Wednesday, the commission is expected to hear from national leads in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on their national strategies and priorities palliative and end-of-life-care.

The commission intends to hold evidence sessions until mid-April, before presenting a report to the Health Secretary.