Leadbeater is right to rethink her assisted dying proposals

Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential candidate in America, caused a meltdown in Britain when her comments on the use of "death panels" to ration healthcare were said to refer to the way that NHS funding is decided. It is almost as if Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP sponsoring the assisted dying bill, is trying to prove her right, 16 years later.

- JOHN RENTOUL

Leadbeater has dropped the plan for her private members' bill to require a High Court judge to sign off someone's application to die. But she has replaced it with something similar to the "panel of bureaucrats" that Palin suggested made life-or-death decisions in the UK.

Instead, Leadbeater now proposes a "voluntary assisted dying commission" that would appoint a "panel of experts", including a psychiatrist and a social worker, to approve assisted dying requests. The panels would be led by a KC, a retired judge, or someone with similar legal qualifications.

The U-turn shows that parliament is doing its job - there should be no shame in amending a bill after consulting people about how it would work. The bill's opponents are too shrill in pointing out how Leadbeater said one thing, very definitely, and another.

It is true that she made a big deal out of the safeguard of a judge having to approve applications. But she is also doing the right thing by saying that she has listened to the consultations and is responding to the objections made - not least by judges, who are already burdened with huge court backlogs.