Cabinet minister breaks ranks to condemn assisted dying legislation - warning chaotic process means it hasn't been properly scrutinised
A senior Cabinet minister has warned that assisted dying laws are being rushed through Parliament with too little time for proper scrutiny.
Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, said there was a 'curtailed' debate in the House of Commons over what would be 'such wide societal change'.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill aims to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales - with less than six months to live - to legally end their lives.
MPs continued their scrutiny of the legislation - a private members' bill being spearheaded by Labour 's Kim Leadbeater - earlier this month during an almost five-hour debate in the Commons.
This saw critics claim the Bill does not include enough protections and was being hurried through Parliament.
Ms Mahmood, an opponent of the legislation, has now added her voice to those criticisms ahead of a planned further debate on the Bill next month.
This is despite Cabinet ministers having previously been warned to steer clear of public debate on the issue, as the Government attempts to maintain a neutral stance.
The Justice Secretary said the process had 'shown the inadequacies' of using a private members' bill to bring forward assisted dying laws.
'My views [on assisted dying] are well known,' Ms Mahmood said when speaking to The Times last week.
'They haven't changed between second reading and the debate we had last Friday and what will happen when we get to third reading.
'I do think that this process has shown the inadequacies of private members' bills as a vehicle for such wide societal change.
'I know they have worked in the past. I can see why campaigning backbench MPs will think, 'If we were able to do this for abortion for example a few decades ago we can use the same mechanism now'.
'But there are huge implications here and the debate that we're having is curtailed, it is short. We saw that last Friday. I don't think it's the right thing to do.'
Last year, Labour peer Charlie Falconer sparked fury by claiming ministers should not 'impose' their religious beliefs on others over assisted dying.
He hit out after Ms Mahmood, the first Muslim to become Lord Chancellor, said she would vote against Ms Leadbeater's Bill ahead of its first reading in the Commons in November.
Lord Falconer said there were 'religious and spiritual reasons' for Ms Mahmood's opposition to the Bill.
But his intervention prompted an angry backlash among Ms Mahmood's fellow MPs, as well as from religious leaders.
The Bill's current stage – known as report stage – will continue on June 13, when further debate will take place in the Commons.
If time allows on that day it is possible a third reading could take place, giving MPs another vote to either approve or reject the overall Bill and decide whether to send it on to the House of Lords.
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