Work to provide an assisted dying service in England and Wales should not be rushed, and “simplicity” is key for good safeguards, a top medic has told MPs.
England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty was the first witness to appear before a committee scrutinising the assisted dying Bill.
The Bill could see terminally ill adults in England and Wales with under six months to live legally allowed to end their lives, subject to approval by two doctors and a High Court judge.
Kim Leadbeater, the MP behind the bill, has previously said it is likely to be a further two years from a law being passed for an assisted dying service to be in place.
Sir Chris told MPs that he thinks two years “seems a reasonable starting point” but that he does not believe there should be a “firm deadline”, with the focus instead on providing a “safe, fair and secure service”.
He said he and the UK’s other chief medical officers are “completely neutral on the principles of this bill, which we consider are entirely for society and therefore for Parliament”.
Sir Chris said be believed “most people in society would say the key thing is to get this right”.
“So personally, I would rather this wasn’t running against a timeline.”
‘What an absolutely outrageous set of remarks’
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, was just accused of making an “absolutely outrageous set of remarks” as he questioned who in government is the “obstacle” to easing a backlog in courts.
Mr Jenrick told justice questions in the Commons: “The court backlog is growing by 500 cases every month and the Ministry of Justice has not set a date for when it will come down.
“Victims are being forced to put their lives on hold whilst they wait for a trial date, and yet today at the Old Bailey half of all the court rooms sit empty.
“The Lady Chief Justice said that there are 4,000 additional sitting days available that could be used now.
“Who is the obstacle to resolving this? Is it the Justice Secretary, who is content for rape trials to be scheduled as far off as 2027, or is it the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) and the Justice Secretary has just had rings run around her by the Treasury?”
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood replied: “What an absolutely outrageous set of remarks, completely forgetting that only six months ago it was his government that was in charge and it was a government that he was part of that all but ran our justice system into the ground.”
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