MPs’ decisions on assisted dying should be made on ‘secular basis’ – minister
Decisions about assisted dying should be made on a “secular basis”, a Government minister said ahead of MPs voting on the issue on Friday.
Home Office minister Seema Malhotra acknowledged that “people have their faiths” but decisions in Parliament should be “based on the evidence”.
Her comments came after Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she would not support a change in the law on assisted dying because of her Muslim faith.
Ms Malhotra said she would vote against the legislation on Friday, telling Sky News she was “concerned about the challenges, the pressures that could be put on vulnerable people” if there was a change in the law.
“Important principle”
She said: “People have their faiths but I think what is important is that when we are making decisions as Members of Parliament we are making them on a secular basis because that’s the way our Parliament is designed in terms of making decisions based on the evidence and arguing the case for law, the advantages, the disadvantages, the concerns in Parliament.
“And I think that is an important principle to me.
“I want to see that we have a debate that is in a way that everybody feels that their voice can be heard, that they can be respected for the views that they hold, that Parliament is able to make a decision on this on Friday and then that we know the Government will abide by the will of Parliament.”
Commons test
Justice Secretary Ms Mahmood has previously stated she will oppose the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, telling the Times: “As a Muslim, I have an unshakeable belief in the sanctity and value of human life.”
The Bill, which has been put forward by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, faces its first Commons test on Friday.
Campaigner and broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and has led calls for a change in the law, urged more MPs to be honest if their objections to the Bill were religiously motivated.
She told LBC: “What worries me is the number of people who are guided by their faith – that’s fine, that’s their choice, whether they’re Evangelical, Christian or Catholic.
“Yes, they have the right to choose but please be honest about your real motivation.”
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That is an absurd comment from someone who ought to know better. The vote is a free vote based on the conscience of individual members who may or may not hold religious views. In fact members are returned by their constituents to represent them although nowadays the party system perverts the whole thing which is institutional corruption. Probably the best thing an MP can do in this situation is to sound out their constituents and attempt to vote according to the majority view. If that doesn’t coincide with their own conscience they can explore ways of dealing with that problem… Read more »
Why do I get the feeling that many in UK Labour are trying to secretly collude to kill this Private Members Bill on assisted dying? People should vote on conscience—that is what a free vote like this should entail. Instead, we have the Labour Minister writing here opposed, Starmer refusing to say how he will vote—probably realising that he may have to justify his view, something he has had difficulty with since becoming PM. We also have his Health Minister Streeting, who will vote against it because he is concerned about the cost. Yet, we are almost alone in the… Read more »