Assisted dying has returned to Westminster as MPs are set to vote on amendments to the bill on Friday. Hoyle still has to decide how many and how voting will work…
A subsequent voting session will take place on 13 June if required – that’s the earliest point a third reading vote could happen. MPs thinking of changing their minds have kept their heads below the parapet…
Five abstainers will vote against the bill and around three who were in favour are now minded to oppose. Won’t be enough to swing the second reading’s majority of 55…
Something that might change some minds is an overnight intervention from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which has now come out against the bill. Its president Dr Lade Smith said on Newsnight: “We’re concerned that there isn’t a requirement to think about any unmet needs a person might have. So a person with a terminal illness may well be, they may be in pain, they have difficulty with their housing, their finances because they haven’t been able to work, they might feel lonely, isolated. As you mentioned, there’s no requirement to inform family members.“ She also says there are nowhere near enough psychiatrists – whose prognoses are required in the bill as written…
The first stage of Scotland’s bill passed yesterday in Holyrood by 70 votes to 56. Starmer will miss Friday’s Westminster votes due to being in Albania…
Batting away critical points from Nick Robinson on the Today Programme, Tony Blair said:
“I always used to say the greatest source of election-losing advice was the Guardian.”