Starmer ‘doubles down’ on promise for assisted dying vote – but hints it could take a year
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Sir Keir Starmer has “doubled down” on his promise to hold a free vote on assisted dying in the future.
The new prime minister has not committed to a timeline for considering a change of law, although hinted it may not be in the coming year.
But his stance is that MPs will be able to choose to vote with their conscience, rather than along party lines.
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Speaking on his trip to NATO in the US, the new prime minister was asked when he would hold the vote he had previously promised on the topic.
He said: “What I said was that we would provide time for this, obviously by way of a private member’s bill.”
A private member’s bill is a proposed change of law suggested in the Commons by an MP and not on behalf of the government.
The prime minister added: “There’ll be a free vote – that remains my position for reasons I set out.
“Having probably got more experience in this than most people having personally, looked at, tens of cases in my time as director of public prosecutions.
“As to the timing of it. I haven’t made a commitment on that, and I don’t want to because… It’s just, we’ve got to set our priorities for the first year or so.
“But I will double down on the commitment that we are going to do that. We will allow time for a private member’s bill. It will be a free vote.”
A free vote is when MPs can vote with their conscience or personal belief, as opposed to being told how to by their parties.
It is common on matters to do with health, religion or military intervention.
Read more:
Starmer promises Dame Esther vote on assisted dying
Five stories that bring the assisted dying debate home
The debate on assisted dying is often impassioned, and has come to the fore recently following comments from Dame Esther Rantzen.
The That’s Life! presenter revealed she had joined the Swiss Dignitas clinic after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
She said she believed it was “important the law catches up with what the country wants” in making assisted dying legal.
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More than 200,000 people signed a petition calling for a vote on assisted dying, and MPs debated the matter at the end of April this year.
Many shared stories related to losing relatives and loved ones, and how it informed their view on the topic of assisted dying.
