The Assisted Dying Bill: Is more parliamentary time needed?

News

The Assisted Dying Bill: Is more parliamentary time needed? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 55

15 Nov 2024

Could one of the most consequential Private Members’ Bills in nearly fifty years - the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which seeks to legalise assisted dying - be stopped not due to its content but because MPs fear they won’t have time to scrutinise it properly?

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Mark and Ruth look at increasing concerns in the House of Commons that the time constraints around private members legislation could prevent Kim Leadbeater’s bill from receiving the level of debate and scrutiny the issue demands.

If MPs are perceived to have reached a decision on anything other than the merits of the Bill, the House of Commons will risk looking ridiculous. So, should the Government step in to ensure there’s enough time for consideration in the Chamber and in Committee, while remaining neutral on the merits of the policy? Or might Ministers prefer to sit on their hands?

Also, as the Government’s proposal to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords clears the Commons, how will the denizens of the Upper House respond? The Shadow Leader of the Lords warns the “execution will be up close and personal,” with Peers having to march through the lobbies to approve the Bill, under the watchful gaze of the colleagues they will be voting to exclude.

And finally, an embarrassing blunder: the Government has discovered that it has been unlawfully charging fees for UK visa applications for years and is trying to quietly regularise its mistake. The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee is not impressed with the Home Office. It’s a painful example of the perils of delegated legislation.

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Resources

Parliament

Kim Leadbeater MP, Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (012 of 2024-25 Session)

Hansard Society

Procedural guide to Private Members Bills

Constitution Unit, UCL

D. Natzler, What future for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill? (4 November 2024)

The Conversation

D. Gover, Assisted dying bill enters parliament – how likely is it to become law? (16 October 2024)

House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee

Report on the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2024

Transcript

Please note, this transcript is automatically generated. There are consequently minor errors and the text is not formatted according to our style guide. If you wish to reference or cite the transcript copy below, please first check against the audio version above.

[00:00:00] You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk/pm..

Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox.

Mark D'Arcy: And I'm Mark D'Arcy. Coming up this week.

Ruth Fox: A matter of life and death. The Assisted Dying Bill has been published. It's possibly the most important private member's bill since the 1960s. So what happens next?

Mark D'Arcy: As the bill to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords heads for a rendezvous with their lordships, the Shadow Leader of the House warns the execution will have to be done at close quarters.

Ruth Fox: And the Government has got itself in a legislative tangle over visa fees it shouldn't have charged.[00:01:00]

Mark D'Arcy: But first, Ruth, before we get into the Assisted Dying Bill, I think I should just offer a little apology. Both of us have been slightly under the weather this week. The voices are a bit croaky, the coughs come out occasionally despite our best efforts to restrain them. So listeners, please do bear with us. It's autumn in London and the viruses are about and we've both had them, so apologies in advance.

But let's talk now about the Assisted Dying Private Members Bill that's finally been published, that will be heading for debate in a couple of weeks time in the House of Commons. It's probably the most important, biggest, most controversial Private Members Bill since really the 1960s and the heroic age of Private Members Bill legislation when homosexuality was legalised, when abortion was legalised, both huge social measures that MPs were supposed to vote on their conscience for.

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Latest / Highlights

News / Assisted dying bill: Special series #10 - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 89

Having cleared detailed scrutiny in a Public Bill Committee, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill faces its next crucial test when it returns to the House of Commons for Report Stage on 16 May. This stage is often where Private Members' Bills falter. Will opponents of Kim Leadbeater’s proposals to legalise assisted dying win enough support to amend the Bill? Can supporters of the Bill fend off attempts to change it? And could the Bill be lost altogether, because of the procedural hurdles that still stand in its way?

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In response to the Modernisation Committee's call for views on 17 October 2024, we submitted evidence outlining key areas we believe the Committee should prioritise. Our submission recommended a focus on: strengthening legislative scrutiny, with particular emphasis on reforming the delegated legislation system; enhancing financial scrutiny, especially in relation to the Budget and the Estimates; addressing strategic gaps in parliamentary scrutiny; making more effective use of parliamentary time; and reviewing the Standing Orders, language and rituals of the House of Commons.

Briefings / The Assisted Dying Bill: A guide to the Private Member's Bill process

This briefing explains what to watch for during the Second Reading debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on 29 November. It outlines the procedural and legislative issues that will come into play: the role of the Chair in managing the debate and how procedures such as the 'closure' and 'reasoned amendments' work. It looks ahead to the Committee and Report stage procedures that will apply if the Bill progresses beyond Second Reading. It also examines the government's responsibilities, such as providing a money resolution for the Bill and preparing an Impact Assessment, while addressing broader concerns about the adequacy of Private Members’ Bill procedures for scrutinising controversial issues.