Labour MP 'disheartened' by weaker assisted dying bill

Having previously supported the bill, Naz Shah now believes it is fundamentally flawed’, she explains to David Maddox

- David Maddox

A Labour MP who had originally been inclined to vote in favour of Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying legislation has claimed that the bill now has weaker safeguards than when MPs voted on it in November.

Naz Shah spoke to The Independent in the wake of the laborious and, at times, tetchy committee stage of the controversial bill being completed in parliament last Wednesday.

The Bradford West MP, who served on the committee scrutinising the bill, had hoped that safeguards could be strengthened to make it workable but now claims the legislation is “fundamentally flawed”.

Data shows that 393 amendments were put forward by MPs who opposed the bill at its second reading. Of these, 330 were rejected by the committee, 31 were withdrawn before going to a vote and another 32 were accepted.

Ms Leadbeater, the bill’s sponsor who gave a detailed interview to The Independent in February, wrote to MPs last week pointing out the changes and number of amendments accepted from both sides of the debate. In her email, she pointed out that 32 amendments from MPs were accepted and hailed her new voluntary assisted dying commission chaired by a judge or retired judge for “strengthening” the process.