Wes Streeting, Health and Social Care Secretary, said that he plans to vote against the upcoming bill on assisted dying.
Explaining his stance on Good Morning Britain, Streeting said that he was worried about palliative and end-of-life care ‘not being good enough to give people a real choice’. The Ilford North MP said he was also concerned that people would be ‘coerced’ into opting for assisted dying.
He said: 'I also worry, even where you’ve got really loving families who are very supportive, I really worry about those people who think they’ve almost got a duty to die, to relieve the burden on their loved ones.’
- Citizens’ jury calls for legalising assisted dying
- Calls for Government to fix ‘patchy’ end-of-life care for the UK’s ageing population
- Palliative care continues to face ‘considerable hardships’
Assisted dying generally refers to a person, who is terminally ill, seeking medical help from healthcare professionals to obtain lethal drugs to end their life.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, to give terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to request assistance to end their life.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Government is staying neutral on the Bill and MPs are due to give it a second reading on 29 November. Post the debate, ministers will be given a free vote, following their own opinion and conscience rather than a party line.
Other Government ministers, including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, have declared their support for the Bill.
Miliband said: ‘I think people having control over their own life and their own death is something that is the right thing to do. Obviously there have to be proper safeguards and I understand the concerns of some people on these issues, but my personal view will to be vote in favour of this Bill.’
However, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that she will not support the bill because of her ‘unshakeable belief in the sanctity and the value of human life’.
Streeting said that the Government would ‘respect and act upon’ the outcome of the vote and ‘implement whatever Parliament decides’.