One of the bill’s leading opponents, the Conservative MP Danny Kruger, said he believed the bill had the potential to lose its Commons majority over the change, that would see the removal of signoff by a high court judge and its replacement with an expert panel.
The Labour MP Anna Dixon, one of those who proposed an amendment to slow down the bill’s progress in November, said: “If the proponents of the bill can U-turn on something as fundamental as the role of the high court, it seriously calls into question whether the rest of the bill is fit for purpose.
MPs on the committee – which includes Leadbeater and Kruger – began the formal scrutiny of the original bill on Tuesday, when MPs clashed over an amendment which would use stronger criteria to assess mental capacity of a patient.
On Tuesday, Leadbeater said the bill would still have the strongest safeguards of any country in the world and the panel, with a senior lawyer, psychiatrist and social worker, would have more expertise to spot potential abuse.
One senior MP working with those in favour of the bill said they believed there was enough time to win many MPs over to the change.
