Liz Kendall is the first minister to say she will vote for assisted dying
Liz Kendall has become the first minister to confirm she will vote in favor of the assisted dying bill since its publication, as the row over the proposed law change intensified.
Some advocates of assisted dying have expressed their anger after Wes Streeting, the health secretary and opponent of the plan, warned it could be a potential drain on NHS resources.
Asked whether she would support the Private Members’ Bill, led by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater and published on Monday, Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, told the BBC: “Yes, I will vote for the bill.
“I have always believed in giving people as much choice and control as possible, and with all the right safeguards this bill provides, I believe it is a very important step forward on such a difficult issue, by giving people choice and control to give.”
While Keir Starmer has warned cabinet members not to intervene in the debate as per the rules explained last month by Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, they are more likely to express strong views if directly asked, but “they must exercise discretion” and not participate directly in the debate.
Now it is believed that a number of MPs are still undecided, two weeks before the House of Commons votes on the bill for the first time, both sides of the hotly contested debate are battling to seize the initiative.
Some supporters of the plan were angry at Streeting’s suggestion that continuing assisted death as an option for NHS patients could mean cuts to other services.
The Health Secretary, who has ordered his department to conduct a review into any cost implications, told Times Radio on Wednesday that there would be “implications for the means to do this – and those choices would come at the expense of other choices”.
The proponents of the bill have pointed this out a review carried out by the Scottish Parliament last month, which estimated that a Scottish assisted dying bill, if implemented, would ultimately have a net annual cost of between £140,000 and £340,000, or less than 0.002% of the NHS Scotland budget.
Margaret Hodge, the veteran Labor MP and now a peer, said she struggled to understand Streeting’s argument about resources, telling the BBC that “to argue that this is going to cost extra voices is a bit foolish to me”.
She added: “I’m a big fan of Wes Streeting but I think he needs to do what the Cabinet Secretary has said on this issue and just tone down the heat a bit.”
One supporter of Leadbeater’s bill said some MPs had since raised concerns about the potential costs of the policy following Streeting’s comments: ‘I was very, very surprised when he said he was going to look into this now. I have no doubts about his sincerity, but we get some MPs saying he must know something, when it is probably not based on knowledge.”
Another financier said Streeting’s argument was “a bit inexplicable”. They said: “This is not a new group turning up for the demanding services of the NHS. By definition, they are in the last six months of their lives and are therefore entitled to end-of-life care.
‘I just don’t understand the logic of what he’s saying. And that is before you run the risk of saying that people might face a painful death because otherwise it would cost money.”
Asked whether she and other ministers were at risk of being ‘outvoted’ by Streeting, Kendall said: ‘This is something people have very strong views on, but I am a lifelong advocate of giving people power and control. ‘
A Streeting ally said: “Wes has approached this issue in a sincere, thoughtful and thoughtful manner, expressing his own views while respecting the views of others.”
Leadbetter’s bill provides for a range of safeguards, including long prison terms for coercion and powers for judges to cross-examine patients. However, MPs opposed to the idea have raised concerns, including that the bill would not stop doctors from presenting assisted death as an option to patients.