
Care homes and hospices must have right to opt out of assisted dying, MPs hear
Demonstrators gathered outside Parliament as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill came back to the Commons for the first time since a historic yes vote in November saw a majority of MPs support the principle of assisted dying.
Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and is one of the most high-profile backers of the Bill, appealed for MPs to vote for what she termed a 'crucial reform'.
She urged them to change the law 'as so many other countries have, not for me and for those like me who are running rapidly out of time, but for future generations to have the right if necessary, not to shorten their lives, to shorten their deaths'.
But opponents have argued the Bill does not have enough safeguards and has been rushed through, with two royal medical colleges voicing their doubts on the legislation in its current form.
Among those opposed to the Bill, Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson – who would have a vote on the Bill should it make its way to the Lords – has argued the Bill has 'not been made safer', criticising the scrapping of the much-lauded High Court safeguard in favour of expert panels.
Other changes made to the Bill – which concerns only England and Wales – in recent months during a weeks-long committee process include the timeframe in which an assisted dying service might come into effect being doubled to four years from royal assent.
In its current form the Bill would mean terminally ill adults with only six months left to live could apply for assistance to end their lives, with approval needed from two doctors and the expert panel.
It is possible this part of the parliamentary process, known as the report stage, will run into a second day next month, meaning a vote on approval or rejection of the overall Bill would not take place on Friday.
Bringing her Bill back to Parliament, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said assisted dying must be legalised to avoid terminally ill people acting out of desperation or making 'traumatic' trips to Switzerland.
As Friday's session – which could last for up to five hours – opened, she told MPs gathered in the Commons: 'Put simply, if we do not vote to change the law, we are essentially saying that the status quo is acceptable.'
Referring to stories she had heard of people dying in 'deeply difficult and traumatic circumstances', she added: 'Too many have seen their terminally ill loved ones take their own lives out of desperation, or make the traumatic, lonely and costly trip to Switzerland, and then face a police investigation while dealing with their grief and loss.'
Following a Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) statement this week on its 'serious concerns' including on numbers of psychiatrists available to sit on panels assessing a terminally ill person's application, Ms Leadbeater told MPs said she 'wouldn't anticipate any problems' on staffing.
Amendments being discussed on Friday included ensuring care homes and hospices can decide whether or not to be involved in assisted dying and that their funding would not be affected based on their decision.
Conservative MP Rebecca Paul, who tabled both amendments, said they 'provide important protections' which she argued 'are currently lacking in the Bill'.
She told MPs: 'Whether you're in favour of assisted dying or not, we must preserve the rights of organisations, companies and charities to choose whether to offer it. They must never be bought into it by public funding being conditional on the provision of assisted dying.'
Conservative former minister Sir Edward Leigh used his speech to express the views of a care home manager who spoke of the 'unworkable nature of individual exclusion from the processes of assisted dying in social care environments'
Quoting the care home boss, he said: 'Specific exclusion of the care home sector should be a feature of the Bill. In any case, organisations and sites should and must be given the ability to exclude themselves from the act of assisted death.'
Elsewhere, Labour's Dame Meg Hillier spoke of her concern that patients could 'feel pressured into ending their lives' if doctors are able to raise the prospect of assisted dying with patients first in a conversation.
Dame Meg has urged MPs to support her amendments which would mean that could not happen, and that health professionals could not raise the topic with under-18s.
She said the issue is 'a very difficult thing for a lot of people to understand, but particularly for young people' and warned of adolescents being 'more likely to take risks'.
Alliance MP Sorcha Eastwood said there was additional danger presented by social media on the topic, telling the Commons she had heard 'almost all of our young people across the UK are having their mental health impacted by social media'.
She said: 'If we throw this into the mix, this has the potential to do untold damage.'
But Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine suggested patients not being given 'all the options' by medical professionals could see them, particularly young people who might be active on social media, tempted to search online for their own information.
She said: 'The automatic reaction is to go and Google everything, in fact we all do it … the danger is if they are not told all the options, if they are not given the guidance that's available, then they will go to Google and what we will see is yet more of the dangerous suicide attempts that we see at the moment.'
The Government is neutral on the Bill and any votes MPs make are according to their own conscience rather than along party lines.
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31 minutes ago
- Wales Online
Lords' objections to Data Bill over copyright threatens its existence
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"Which is why I urge this House to accept our amendments in lieu. "And I urge their Lordships not to insist on their amendment, but to agree with us. "It is worth pointing out, that if their Lordships do persist, they are not just delaying and imperilling a Bill which all parties agree is an important and necessary piece of legislation. "They are also imperilling something else of much greater significance and importance economically; our data adequacy with the European Union." He said he was "mystified" by Liberal Democrat and Conservative opposition to the Bill. "These amendments show our commitment to ensuring considered and effective solutions as I have just outlined, and demonstrate that we have unequivocally heard concerns about timing and accountability." Conservative shadow technology minister Dr Ben Spencer said the creative industries and peers "were not buying" the Government's approach. He said: "They're not buying it because the Government has lost the confidence of their stakeholders that it will bring forward legislation to enact effective and proportionate transparency requirements for AI models in the use of their creative content." Dame Caroline said Sir Chris and the Government were not engaging with the central issue. She said: "By being cloth-eared to the legitimate concerns of the world-leading creative industries for month after month after month; they have been virtually dragged kicking and screaming to this position now, where they bring forward a couple of tiny amendments. "By gaslighting members of all parties at both ends of this building who have attempted to draw attention to this. "By somehow pitting our world-leading creative industries against AI, almost somehow presenting them as luddites, that they are somehow allergic to innovation and technology when actually these are some of the most groundbreaking and innovative sectors out there; they are using AI every single day to produce world-breaking pieces of creative content." Responding, Sir Chris said: "I would just say to her (Dame Caroline) that she clearly has forgotten that the previous government actually introduced plans which would have brought forward a text and data mining exemption for commercial exploitation of copyrighted materials without any additional protections for creative industries at all. "That seems to have slipped her mind. Article continues below "We have moved a considerable deal since this Bill started. "We have moved and we have listened to what their lordships and, more importantly, what the creative industries have to say in this."


Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
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Spending review live updates: Rachel Reeves to reveal how Britain will splash the cash with NHS, defence and schools in line for windfalls
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Telegraph
39 minutes ago
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When is the spending review and what might Rachel Reeves announce?
All eyes are on the Treasury this week as Rachel Reeves is set to lay out her spending review to Parliament on Wednesday. She'll announce the Government's day-to-day spending commitments up to 2028-29, and investment spending plans to 2029-30 – but there have been varying reports of what we can expect. Here, Telegraph Money takes you through what we know and what the plans could mean for you. What is the spending review? Spending reviews take place every few years, and it is when the Government lays out all spending that can be reasonably planned. The plans account for around 40pc of all public spending, according to the House of Commons Library, with the rest dependent on demands such as the benefits bill. The last multi-year spending review was in 2021 under Boris Johnson's Conservative administration. In the run-up to the review, government departments have been in negotiations with the Treasury to try to secure as much funding as they can. The current review process was launched in December last year, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said it could be 'one of the most significant domestic policy events of this parliament'. However, Ms Reeves has warned that 'not every department will get everything that they want', as she has had to 'say no' to things that she would support in an ideal world. Many departments are expecting a real-terms cut in their funding. The Government previously said that the review is 'zero-based', meaning that decisions will be made based on an assessment of spending line by line, rather than an overall increase or decrease to the current budget. What time will Rachel Reeves announce it? The Chancellor will stand up in the House of Commons on Wednesday June 11 after Prime Minister's Questions, at roughly 12.30pm. Once Ms Reeves has finished speaking the review will be published on the government website, along with any accompanying documents. What is likely to be included? Some government spending plans have already been announced. Last week, Reeves announced £15.6bn of funding for regional transport, and the Government has confirmed a partial U-turn on the decision to remove winter fuel payments from all but the poorest pensioners. The Treasury has today announced that nine million pensioners will receive winter fuel payments this winter as a result. It has also been reported that the Chancellor will focus on three priorities in the spending review: health, security and the economy. This means spending on the NHS, defence and infrastructure, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper understood to be putting in a final plea for more police funding. There are also suggestions that the two-child benefit cap may be lifted, and schools are understood to be in line for £4.5bn uplift. Funding these plans may be tricky, however. Ms Reeves has confirmed she will be sticking to the Government's non-negotiable fiscal rules on borrowing. At the same time, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said 'momentum is weakening' in the economy, as they told Ms Reeves that efforts to cut government borrowing must be 'stepped up'. If more borrowing is off the table, it may mean cuts for some departments. The IFS has warned that 'because headline real growth rates [over the period] are relatively modest, sharp trade-offs are unavoidable. Achieving stated objectives in some areas will likely require real-terms cuts elsewhere.' Deutsche Bank is a little more optimistic. In a recent analyst note Sanjay Raja, senior economist, said the bank is seeing more 'resilience than expected' in the UK economy, and their forecasts for growth until the end of 2027 currently sit above the consensus. But, in short, Reeves still needs to find more money. Will any tax changes be announced? No, there will be no tax rises in the spending review on Wednesday. As tax increases demand new legislation through a finance bill, we won't hear about any changes until the Budget in the autumn – but there is already speculation that any additional spending will necessitate a higher tax burden unless a spur in economic growth helps to boost the Treasury's coffers. Tom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, said: 'Of course, a lot can happen between now and the Budget and we have a number of economic data points that could influence the Chancellor's decisions come the autumn, but speculation about what may be on the table is naturally already rife. 'Perhaps the most drastic decision the Government could make would be to walk back on its manifesto commitment not to tax 'working people' and consider increasing income tax, national insurance or VAT.' Mr Selby added that ideas for a wealth tax may also be considered, along with speculation of further pensions reform. 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