The assisted dying bill must be beefed up further

When the Terminally Ill Adults End of Life) Bill passed its first stage in the House of Commons in November, The Independent agreed with the majority of MPs.

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They voted at second reading to approve the draft law in principle, while many of them had reservations about the terms of the bill and expected it to be improved when it was subjected to detailed scrutiny.

In particular, we agreed with those who said that the safeguards against coercion needed to be strengthened, and that the requirement for a High Court judge to sign off on a decision to die was unworkable.

To her credit, Kim Leadbeater, the Labour backbencher who is the sponsor of this private member's bill, has taken those concerns seriously and sought to allay them. Since November, the bill has been improved, as was confirmed in the Commons yesterday.

The safeguards have been strengthened and the role of the High Court judge has been replaced by a panel including a lawyer, a social worker and a psychiatrist. This is a better and more workable arrangement, drawing on a range of relevant expertise, rather than a narrowly legal authority.