Streeting: Assisted dying will take time and money

Health Secretary’s stance at odds with Cabinet colleagues

- Martyn Brown Political Editor

WES Streeting has risked inflaming Cabinet tensions by warning that assisted dying will take “time and money” from other parts of the NHS.

The Health Secretary, who opposed the legislation in the Commons on Friday, said better end-of-life care was needed instead to prevent terminally ill people feeling they had no alternative but to end their life.

Writing on Facebook, Mr Streeting said he could not ignore concerns “about the risks that come with this Bill” that were raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of Physicians, Association for Palliative Medicine and charities representing under-privileged groups.