Disabled MP drops support for assisted dying bill over ‘broken’ social care and health services

A disabled MP has dropped his support for the assisted suicide bill, largely because of concerns that “broken” social care and palliative care services could push terminally-ill people into seeking an assisted death.

Steve Darling told Disability News Service (DNS) this week that he had not yet decided how he would vote on the bill’s third reading, which is likely to take place next month, but he said he had moved from being “marginally in favour” of the bill at its second reading last November, to now being “marginally against”.

He said this was because of growing concerns about the lack of safeguards and the broken health and care system, and that he now had “more concerns than I did then”.

Darling, the Liberal Democrats’ work and pensions spokesperson, said he believed that, after talking to fellow MPs, the momentum in the Commons was shifting against the bill.

Although he did not speak in Friday’s debate, during the first day of the bill’s report stage, DNS noticed that Darling had voted with opponents of the bill – along with most other disabled MPs, such as Labour’s Jen Craft, Liam Conlon, Marsha de Cordova, Emma Lewell, Marie Rimmer and the party’s former shadow disability minister, Vicky Foxcroft – whereas in November he had voted with the bill’s supporters.

Darling said he had been influenced by conversations with two senior consultants at a hospice in his Torbay constituency.

He told DNS that he wanted to see “appropriate funding” for palliative care so terminally-ill people would have a “genuine choice” at the end of life between palliative care and an assisted death.

And he said that the clearer it becomes that the health and care systems are “broken”, the “more challenging it is to feel that people are able to make good decisions about how they should end their lives” if assisted dying is legalised.

Darling said legalisation could lead terminally-ill people to “feel that because of the lack of systems being appropriate for them… they’re pushed in that direction rather than actually being able to have a proper informed choice.

“I think a lot of my concerns around the assisted dying bill are making sure that there’s properly-funded services so people can have proper, informed decisions.”

He said the hospice consultants had made it clear that the social care system also needed to be properly funded.

But he said health and social care secretary Wes Streeting had kicked the reform of the social care system “into the long grass… which is horrific, because getting social care properly sorted could help the acute care system massively”.

He added: “In principle, I am supportive of assisted dying.

“However, there need to be appropriate safeguards, and I’m getting more worried that the appropriate safeguards are not appearing as clearly as I would wish to see in the emerging bill.”

He also voted on Friday to express his concern that only a small proportion of those MPs who had wanted to speak in Friday’s debate had been able to do so.

And he is concerned that the bill’s committee stage – which was led by supporters of the bill – had granted too many powers to ministers to change the bill if it becomes law, using so-called “Henry VIII powers”.

His comments were welcomed by Not Dead Yet UK (NDY UK), which leads disabled people’s opposition to the bill.

Mike Smith, a spokesperson for NDY UK and former disability commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “NDY are aware of an increasing number of MPs who have reservations about this legislation, whether it’s that the safeguards aren’t strong enough, or the process has been rushed and flawed, or simply that it’s dangerous in the context of current social care and health provision.

“During the debate last Friday, we heard some MPs dismiss disabled people’s concerns as not valid. This is completely unacceptable.

“NDY do not know of a single disability organisation that supports this bill, and many disabled voices are campaigning against it.

“It’s really important disabled MPs use their insight, gained from personal understanding of the structural disadvantages disabled people face, to better explain the consequences of this badly conceived bill.

“We would encourage more disabled MPs to educate their colleagues on why this bill, as drafted, will lead to the unnecessary deaths of many in our society.

“Having choice is only valid if it’s a meaningful choice, and for many disabled people we strongly fear it won’t be.”

Picture: Protesters against the bill, including Mike Smith (left) and Liz Carr (front right); and Steve Darling with his guide dog Jennie

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