Spare a thought (and perhaps a degree of sympathy) for Sarah Sackman MP.
Her political career in 2024 was little short of meteoric. 2025 will be a greater challenge.
After a career as a London Barrister, she entered Parliament last year as the MP for Finchley and Golders Green. She had gained the seat from the Conservatives but her majority of 4,600 looks to be vulnerable on current opinion polls. She was immediately made a member of the Government, as Solicitor General. Then, in December, she was further promoted to be a Minister of State responsible for Courts and Legal Services. At the same time, she was appointed as one of two Government Ministers on the Committee Stage of Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill.
So far, so good. But she will now face three considerable dilemmas.
First, on a free vote she supported the Bill itself at Second reading. As the Minister responsible for the Courts, however, she will have to decide who should pay the legal costs if (as the Bill intends) assisted dying applications have to be signed off by a High Court Judge. The Treasury will not be keen to help. Her own department is creaking under the strains caused by too little money. So where will the legal fees come from ?
Which leads to the second dilemma. Throughout her career to date, she has been a champion of the “access to justice” campaign. This seeks to ensure that no one should be denied access to the processes of the law because they haven’t got enough money. So how will Sarah feel if she has to stand up at the Committee and say that applicants for an assisted death must now, after all, be prepared to chip in financially ?
Finally, before becoming an MP she was Vice-Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement. And she now represents Golders Green. In the words of one eminent legal Rabbi “Any positive act designed to hasten the death of the patient is equated with murder in Jewish Law.”
And whoever said being an MP was a straightforward job ?
