MPs reminded to be civil as assisted dying committee meets for tense start
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MPs were reminded of the need to be “civil and courteous” to each other as the first formal meeting of the assisted dying committee got off to a tense start. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which received a historic yes vote in the Commons in November to pass its first stage, is now being considered by a committee.
It will undergo line-by-line scrutiny by 23 MPs over the coming weeks, as calls persist from some quarters for strengthened safeguards if a new law is to come into force. At the committee’s first formal meeting on Tuesday, members were urged to act with “customary candour and decency” on what is a controversial subject.
The reminder, from committee chairman Sir Roger Gale, came as a leading opponent of the Bill, Conservative MP Danny Kruger, argued against members sitting in private to discuss witnesses who might give evidence. Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the Bill, said it would be “inappropriate to discuss named individuals” in the context of the suitability of witnesses, and that, while transparency is important, “so is respecting individuals’ privacy”.
Mr Kruger countered this, insisting there is a “clear public interest case that the public should understand” why certain witnesses have been chosen and others have not, adding “and if there are concerns about the witnesses, they should be aired publicly”.
