THE ASSISTED Dying Bill (ADB) has received its Second Reading in the House of Commons. A committee of MPs will now consider it in detail, line by line, and think about any amendments that may improve it.
The ADB will return to the House of Commons next year, probably in April but possibly later, for its Third Reading, where MPs may put amendments to the whole House. The amendments, and then the Bill (amended, if any amendments are passed) will go to the House of Lords, where the process is repeated.
Once the Lords have finished, the Bill will return to the House of Commons. The Lords and Commons will undertake various procedural dances if there are any significant amendments on which they disagree. Eventually the Bill will be written out on animal skin and taken up the road to a bloke called Charles, who will sign it.
The Bill will then become an Act, and dates will be set for it to be implemented. It is currently thought there will be a period of about two years for a system to be set up before the Act becomes operational. British democracy cannot be rushed.
The recent vote on the Second Reading was much closer than the media had predicted. Journalists were reporting that both sides thought it was neck and neck, and the Bill would pass by a small majority – maybe as low as five. In the end, it passed by a significant majority of 55. The parties in the House of Commons gave their MPs a “free vote”, which meant their was no party line and they could vote in line with their own personal views.
How did Tower Hamlets’ three MPs vote – and why?
●Apsana Begum (Popar & Limehouse) Apsana was elected as a Labour MP, but she defied the orders of party bosses and voted to end the “two-child benefit cap”. Six other MPs did so too. (The cap allows those claiming welfare benefits to claim for two of their children, but not for any more.) The suspension was set for six months, so it should be lifted at the end of January – but until then Apsana is labelled an “Independent”.
Apsana voted against the ADB. She explained her reasons in a statement posted on X. Apsana says that she has “empathy and compassion for people who […] with to make informed choices over their lives”. She then gives reasons for denying those people the power to make those choices. Read her full statement here.
●Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green & Stepney) Rushanara voted against the ADB. Her website has a page headed “Statement on Assisted Dying Bill”, but, at the time of writing, there is no statement under the heading – just one of those Microsoft icons that indicates that your graphic is not visible, for some reason. We hope that someone will sort this out and that you will be able to read the statement in the future, but in the meantime, you can’t read her full statement here.
●Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) Uma voted against the ADB; she is a sponsor of the Bill; and she says on her X page that she remains undecided. This is a highly innovative stance, which pretty much allows her to say she favours every possible position an MP could have on the issue. You can read her X post here.
There’s months of debate ahead of us: keep contacting your MP and letting them know your views.
●Read more about it: More stories on local politics