‘Outrageous’ – MPs complain after multiple assisted dying bill amendments not voted on, or even debated
Today’s proceedings in the Commons are bound to reignite the debate about whether the assisted dying bill is getting proper scrutiny. MPs spent four and a half hours debating the bill, but many MPs who tabled amendments did not get the chance to speak, and in the end only two amendments were put to the vote.
Many MPs have argued that, because of its importance, it should not be a private member’s bill, and instead should have been adopted as a government bill, which would have enabled more time to be set aside for it debates and votes at report stage.
(An alternative view that is that the procedures for private members’ bill should be reviewed, so that they don’t face an arbitrary cut-off at 2.30pm on a Friday.)
The Conservative MP John Lamont posted this on social media as the debate ended.
Supporters of assisted suicide are desperate to shut down scrutiny of their plans.
It is outrageous that the debate has just been shut down in the House of Commons – we need proper time to consider these plans.
This isn’t like any other decision Parliament makes.
And the Labour MP Mike Reader posted this.
No matter your views on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, also known as assisted suicide or assisted dying, people must agree that the time that’s been allocated to debate the proposed amendments to the Bill is not adequate. I’m disappointed that their appears to be a campaign to rush this through, backed by some significant and well-funded lobby groups.
During the debate itself MPs also complained about the lack of time set aside.
Here is the clip of Labour’s Jess Asato making this point.(See 1.38pm.) Asato and Lamont both voted against the bill at second reading.
And here is the Conservative MP Neil O’Brien also complaining about now having had enough time to consider the arguments properly.
O’Brien said he was not against assisted dying in principle, but he voted against the bill at second reading, as did Lamont, Reader and Assato.
UPDATE: A Labour MP in favour of the bill has been in touch to point out that opponents of the bill were doing their own time-wasting today, when they held up both votes. (See 2.13pm and 2.32pm.) “They wanted more time for debate but then were wasting time,” he says.
Key events
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Early evening summary
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Starmer’s approval rating hits new low, with even Labour supporters giving him negative rating for 1st time, poll suggests
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Badenoch declines to rule out Tory pact with Reform UK in Senedd after next year’s elections
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Starmer says UK and European allies ‘closely aligning’ with Zelenskyy and Trump over Russia policy
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‘Outrageous’ – MPs complain after multiple assisted dying bill amendments not voted on, or even debated
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Assisted dying bill supporters vote down amendment from anti-bill MP with majority of 36
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Care minister Stephen Kinnock on why government sees NC10(a), being voted on now, as unworkable
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MPs vote on amendment that would allow bosses to stop their workers providing assisted dying services
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Supporters of assisted dying win first vote, by majority of 49
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MP hits back at Rantzen, saying it’s ‘insulting’ to dismisses valid concerns about bill as due to religious beliefs
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Minority communities ‘scared’ about being more at risk of coercion under assisted dying bill, MPs told
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Assisted dying bill underwent ‘massive shift’ in committee, with more emphasis on choice, MP claims
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Leadbeater says risk of people being able to qualify for assisted dying as result of anorexia ‘negligible’
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Kim Leadbeater rejects claim assisted dying will would allow people to ‘shop around’ until they find doctor willing to approve request
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What amendments to assisted dying bill are likely to be put to a vote today?
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Rantzen accused of being ‘disrespectful’ after suggesting critics of assisted dying motivated by undeclared religious views
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MPs debate assisted dying for first time since November, following 150 changes to bill in committee
Early evening summary
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No medics would be obliged to take part in assisted dying, under a change approved by MPs amid further impassioned debate on the controversial legislation. As PA Media reports, the amendment was passed after MPs debated the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill for four and a half hours. MPs voted for one new clause to be added to the bill, which will ensure “no person”, including any medical professional, is obliged to take part in assisted dying. Doctors already had an opt-out but the new clause extends that to anyone, including pharmacists and social care workers. Another amendment, backed by opponents of the bill, was defeated by a majority of 39. (See 2.36pm.) But, as the debate ran out of time, many amendments were not put to a vote, or even debated properly, leading to complaints from opponents of the bill that the process was “outrageous”. (See 3.04pm.) The bill will return to the Commons for further debate on Friday 13 June.
For a full list of all the stories covered here today, scroll through the key events timeline at the top of the blog.
Starmer’s approval rating hits new low, with even Labour supporters giving him negative rating for 1st time, poll suggests
YouGov has released polling suggesting that Keir Starmer, and the Labour party generally, are reaching new lows for unpopularity. It also shows Nigel Farage, and his party Reform UK, gaining approval.
Here are the key findings.
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Starmer’s net approval rating has hit a record low, the poll suggests. In its write-up, YouGov says:
Just 23% of Britons now express a favourable view of the prime minister Keir Starmer, a five-point drop from this time last month and equalling his July 2021 nadir as opposition leader.
However, with the proportion of Britons with an unfavourable opinion of the Labour leader rising from 62% in mid-April to 69% today, Starmer’s net favourability rating has sunk to -46, his lowest ever recorded by YouGov.
By contrast, Farage is getting more popular, YouGov says.
A third of Britons (32%) now have a favourable opinion of the Reform UK leader, up five points from mid-April and the highest YouGov has recorded for him since he took over leadership of the party last June.
Six in ten Britons (59%) still hold an unfavourable opinion of the Reform UK leader, giving him a net favourability rating of -27, up from -38 a month ago.
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Starmer now has a negative approval rating with Labour voters for the first time, the poll suggests. YouGov says:
This fall in Starmer’s popularity is concentrated among Labour voters, half of whom (50%) now have an unfavourable view of the prime minister, a 17-point increase from mid-April. The proportion with a favourable opinion has correspondingly fallen from 62% to 45% over the last month.
This is the first time Keir Starmer has recorded a net negative approval rating among Labour voters.
(Labour) itself has also fallen to new depths, with 65% of Britons saying they have an unfavourable view of Labour, up from 61% in mid-April and the highest recorded since YouGov began asking this question in June 2017.
By contrast, Reform UK is getting more popular, YouGov says.
With Britons as a whole, Reform UK are now seen more positively than Labour by a comfortable margin for the first time, with the 35% of the public with a positive opinion of the party up seven points from mid-April, while the 54% with an unfavourable opinion is down six points over the last month.
Badenoch declines to rule out Tory pact with Reform UK in Senedd after next year’s elections
Kemi Badenoch has refused to rule out forming a pact with Reform UK or Plaid Cymru in the Senedd after next year’s elections in Wales.
Speaking to PA Media at the Welsh Conservative Conference in Llangollen, Badenoch would not rule out joining a coalition government in Cardiff.
One recent poll suggested Plaid Cyrmu is on course to do best in next year’s election, followed by Reform UK, with Labour in third place, and the Conservatives fourth.
Asked if she would rule out a coalition, Badenoch said:
I keep getting asked about coalitions and deals, and I don’t answer that question, because I think once you start talking about coalitions and deals, what the public hears is a ‘stitch-up’.
I need to say what the Conservative way is, what our offer is, let’s wait until the election before we start talking about coalitions and deals.
We’re not stitching anything up. What we’re doing is working as hard as we can for the people of this country.
The question may be academic. If the results of the YouGov poll for ITV Cymru are replicated next May, a projection suggests the Tories would have just nine seats in the 96-seat Senedd – not enough to form a majority either with Reform UK (projected to win 30 seats) or even Plaid Cymru (projected to win 35). A pact with Plaid would be very unlikely anyway given they are a leftwing party.
As Kevin Schofield reports for HuffPost UK, Badenoch was also mocked after she muddled up Scottish and Welsh parliaemntarians in her speech to the Welsh Tory conference. She said it had been “wonderful to meet so many MSPs”, using the acronym for members of the Scottish parliament, when she meant MSs, the acronym for members of the Senedd.
Starmer says UK and European allies ‘closely aligning’ with Zelenskyy and Trump over Russia policy
At the European Political Community meeting in Albania, Keir Starmer has said that the UK, France, Germany and Poland have spoken to Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump to begin “closely aligning” a response to Russia’s “unacceptable” position in Ukraine peace talks. Starmer said:
We (Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish PM Donald Tusk) just had a meeting with President Zelensky and then a phone call with President Trump to discuss the developments in the negotiations today.
And the Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time.
So as a result of that meeting with President Zelenskyy and that call with President Trump we are now closely aligning our responses and will continue to do so.
Léonie Chao-Fong has more coverage of this on our Ukraine live blog.
‘Outrageous’ – MPs complain after multiple assisted dying bill amendments not voted on, or even debated
Today’s proceedings in the Commons are bound to reignite the debate about whether the assisted dying bill is getting proper scrutiny. MPs spent four and a half hours debating the bill, but many MPs who tabled amendments did not get the chance to speak, and in the end only two amendments were put to the vote.
Many MPs have argued that, because of its importance, it should not be a private member’s bill, and instead should have been adopted as a government bill, which would have enabled more time to be set aside for it debates and votes at report stage.
(An alternative view that is that the procedures for private members’ bill should be reviewed, so that they don’t face an arbitrary cut-off at 2.30pm on a Friday.)
The Conservative MP John Lamont posted this on social media as the debate ended.
Supporters of assisted suicide are desperate to shut down scrutiny of their plans.
It is outrageous that the debate has just been shut down in the House of Commons – we need proper time to consider these plans.
This isn’t like any other decision Parliament makes.
And the Labour MP Mike Reader posted this.
No matter your views on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, also known as assisted suicide or assisted dying, people must agree that the time that’s been allocated to debate the proposed amendments to the Bill is not adequate. I’m disappointed that their appears to be a campaign to rush this through, backed by some significant and well-funded lobby groups.
During the debate itself MPs also complained about the lack of time set aside.
Here is the clip of Labour’s Jess Asato making this point.(See 1.38pm.) Asato and Lamont both voted against the bill at second reading.
And here is the Conservative MP Neil O’Brien also complaining about now having had enough time to consider the arguments properly.
O’Brien said he was not against assisted dying in principle, but he voted against the bill at second reading, as did Lamont, Reader and Assato.
UPDATE: A Labour MP in favour of the bill has been in touch to point out that opponents of the bill were doing their own time-wasting today, when they held up both votes. (See 2.13pm and 2.32pm.) “They wanted more time for debate but then were wasting time,” he says.
Assisted dying bill supporters vote down amendment from anti-bill MP with majority of 36
The Speaker reads the result of the division.
Rebecca Paul’s NC10(a) is defeated by 279 votes to 243 – a majority of 36.
And that is all there is time for today.
The Speaker asks when the bill is coming back, and he is told Friday 13 June.
MPs are now moving on to the other private members’ bills on the order paper. One by one, they are being delayed after an MP objects. (At this point in the day private members’ bills can only get a second reading if no one objects.)
The Speaker has asked the serjeant at arms to investigate a delay in the aye lobby.
This is what Mark D’Arcy, the veteran parliamentarian reporter and commentator, said on social media about the last delay. (See 2.13pm.)
A bad sign when you get delays in the voting lobbies – old-school PMB time-wasting tactics?
Care minister Stephen Kinnock on why government sees NC10(a), being voted on now, as unworkable
During his winding up speech Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, suggested that NC10(a) would be unworkable.
He said:
It is not clear how this is intended to work alongside other obligations on professionals elsewhere in the bill to perform certain duties. As a result, employees may end up with conflicting obligations.
It is also not clear how this amendment will work with the protection for employees from detriment and unfair dismissal by their employers, should they choose to participate in the provision of assisted dying.
If employers can prevent their entire workforce from participating in the provision of assisted dying, then the service may not be available or could be much more difficult to access.
MPs vote on amendment that would allow bosses to stop their workers providing assisted dying services
The Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, moves NC10. (See 10.22am). It passes by acclamation.
They are now voting an NC10(a), an amendemnt to NC10 tabled by Rebecca Paul, an opponent of the bill. It would ensure that employers opposed to assisted dying can also stop their employees providing assisted dying services.
Supporters of assisted dying win first vote, by majority of 49
Supporters of assisted dying have won the first vote, a procedural one to move to the votes.
The closure motion was passed by 288 votes to 239 – a majority of 49.
The Speaker has sent the serjeant at arms to investigate a delay in the no lobby.
(That might be deliberate time wasting.)
The tellers for the ayes are Bambos Charalambous and Sarah Owen, two supporters of the bill who were tellers for the ayes in the second reading vote in November. They are both Labour MPs.
The tellers for the noes are Patricia Ferguson and Ruth Jones, who voted against the bill at second reading.
All four of them are Labour MPs.
So, although this is a procedural vote, in practice it amounts to a proxy vote for or against on the bill. Not passing a closure motion, and allowing a debate to go and and on, is a means of wrecking private member’s legislation.
Kit Malthouse, a supporter of the bill, moves a closure motion (“that the question now be put”). Some MPs object, and so the Speaker calls a division.
This is not a vote on an amendment. It is a vote to end the debate and to move on to the votes.
Jeremy Wright (Con) asks if the panel looking at assisted dying cases will be able to look into matters not brought before it.
Kinnock says the panel has to be satisfied that the correct steps have been taken.
He says the government’s view is that Wright’s amendment on this (amendment 47 – see 1.15pm) is that the purpose of this is already covered by other parts of the bill.