The results are now in for the ballot for Private Members’ Bills in the House of Commons. They are not quite as encouraging as might have been hoped.
One MP, Jake Richards (Labour, Rother Valley), was first off the starting blocks with his announcement that he would indeed be introducing a Bill to legalise Assisted Dying in England and Wales. Good news. But he faces a couple of problems. First he only came 11th in the ballot – not usually a high enough position to get a Bill through, even when the Government has agreed to provide time for it. Second, Jake has only been an MP since July. A Bill so important and contentious as this would normally require a high degree of Parliamentary and procedural experience. This is certainly a factor but David Steel was a very new MP when he piloted through his Abortion Bill in 1967.
Another candidate might have been Clive Lewis (Labour, Norwich South). He was the only MP in this year’s top ten to have voted for Rob Marris’s Assisted Dying Bill in 2015. However, he is now on the Corbynite Left of the Party and would not carry the necessary authority with the rest of his Party to get it passed.
It has also been suggested that Rachael Maskell (Labour, York Central), hitherto an opponent of Assisted Dying, might introduce a Bill filled with so many safeguards and semi-judicial processes as to make a mockery of the process. Happily, this is unlikely to be true.
Dignity in Dying and My Death My Decision both keep lists of MPs and their current views. It is quite possible that another of the top ten will today be in detailed discussions with one of those campaign organisations.
Further news will follow.
