Assisted dying Bill process ‘thorough’ says MP as colleague brands it ‘a mess’

An opponent of assisted dying has claimed a growing number of his Labour colleagues are “deeply concerned” at the Bill’s progress through Parliament as the MP behind it dismissed criticism of the scrutiny process as “utter nonsense”.

Kim Leadbeater said the Bill had been through an “intense” and “thorough” two months of line-by-line scrutiny, and had emerged from the process “even stronger, safer and more effective”.

But her party colleague James Frith, who opposed the Bill at its first vote last year, branded the proposed legislation “a mess” with “massive holes”.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill returns to the House of Commons this month for further debate, significantly changed from the one presented to MPs at the historic November vote.

The High Court safeguard has been dropped and replaced by expert panels, while the implementation period has been doubled to a maximum of four years for an assisted dying service to be in place should the Bill pass into law.

Eligibility remains with only terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live.

The Bill proposes someone fitting this criteria should be legally allowed to end their lives, subject to approval by two doctors and an expert panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.

The Bill’s return to the Commons follows a committee process hailed by supporters as having strengthened proposed legislation and made it more workable, but which opponents have claimed was rushed and chaotic.

MPs are expected to vote on further amendments to the Bill at report stage on April 25.