During last Friday’s House of Commons debate on assisted dying, Wes Streeting was seen nodding wildly when MPs raised the need for better end-of-life care.
While the health minister is yet to share his official position on draft proposals for a palliative care commission, some of those behind it have taken comfort in his apparent show of support.
Streeting irritated many of his cabinet colleagues, including Keir Starmer, with his public statements in favor of voting against the bill, but many Labor figures believe he was right to share his disapproval of the state of end-of-life care.
“They think it’s fair enough that we repeatedly blame the former government for the budget mess they left behind, so why can’t they highlight how much of a mess the palliative care system is for so many people?” said one MP.
They hope that Downing Street will feel some obligation to support the work of the independent commission, given that the Prime Minister has so far quietly supported Kim Leadbeater’s bill.
Many advocates of assisted dying say the legislation, which passed its first Commons hurdle on Friday, should go hand in hand with greater investment in palliative care.
According to Hospice UK, around 300,000 people were cared for in the country’s more than 200 hospices in 2022-2023.
It costs £1.6 billion a year to run, while only £500 million comes from the government. The remaining £1.1 billion will be raised through donations, bequests, charity shops and other fundraising activities.
According to some Labor figures, the timing of the palliative care discussions risks overshadowing Starmer’s efforts to refocus his premiership next Thursday after a bumpy first few months.
One said: “His approval ratings are embarrassingly low, and we’ve already had a rough ride. Surely we can revisit this discussion in the near future?”
A backbencher flagged that Starmer appeared to have “shot himself in the foot”, claiming that if MPs had had more time to debate the assisted dying bill, the Prime Minister could have had more room for his reset.
Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, is reportedly among 10 figures who feared that allowing the assisted dying legislation to go through could prove a distraction from the government’s priority to rebuild the NHS. That group could take the same position on palliative care reform.
However well Starmer’s reset lands, discussions about the state of care for terminally ill patients in England and Wales dominated much of the debate last week, to the extent that some MPs who supported it are now considering changing their minds.
“I spent the entire weekend trying to convince myself that I made the right decision for my constituents with the time I had. I didn’t vote ‘yes’ just because it felt like the wind was blowing in Parliament, but because I thought I had read enough,” said a new Labor MP.
“But after listening to some colleagues putting forward their arguments, I think we really need to consider whether the funding that could help people in palliative care could ultimately go to doctors who are needed to ensure that assisted dying can take place for people who do need it. .
“I just want the committee to get to work on it as quickly as possible, and I can’t imagine I’ll be the only one.”