MPs voted, by a fairly narrow margin, to give the assisted suicide bill the benefit of the doubt. They said it should go to committee so that it could be subjected to robust scrutiny.
Since then, the committee:
1. has been stacked with a disproportionate number of pro-AS MPs;
2.
Philip Murray
6,637 posts
College Assistant Professor in Law, @RobinsonCamb. Sometime campaigner against assisted suicide and euthanasia. 🇻🇦🏴🇬🇧
- A majority of 23 for seismic social change that was in no party's manifesto. I hope the House of Lords saves us from the catastrophe that MPs seek to visit upon us.
- Regardless of what one thinks of the policy, it is profoundly dishonest to label it as the ending of a tax break. As in most other European countries, education has traditionally been recognised as a charitable (ergo untaxed) purpose: see the Charitable Uses Act 1601.On 1 January, the 20% VAT break for private school fees will come to an end, enabling better investment in state education and helping to recruit 6,500 new teachers. Find out more by clicking the graphic below 👇
- Cut disability benefits. Don't fund palliative care. Force hospices run by religious groups to close. Provide state-funded suicide as an alternative. The government's vision for society is as far from the common good as you could imagine.
- Obviously I disagree with the bill in principle. But now I'm just so annoyed by the dishonesty and recklessness of it all. It's not just about this issue. It's about making laws properly and acting with honesty and integrity. MPs ought to be better.
- Any MP who votes for the Terminally Ill Adults Bill is saying they know better than the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of Pathologists, the former Chief Coroner, Liberty, the EHRC, the former President of the Family Court …
- This is a country that can't build a new high speed railway line. Who on earth thinks we can safely provide an assisted suicide service?
- HM The King attending Christian worship at a Jesuit church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. This would have been unthinkable 100 years ago.GOD SAVE THE KING! His Majesty attending the @acn_uk carol service this morning at the Jesuit church of the Immaculate Conception in London.
- We cannot have: free heating for pensioners; a triple-locked pension; a high functioning, bells and whistles health system; defence expenditure at 3% of GDP; free school meals for all; low taxes; no deficit; and a growing economy. Something has to give.
- This is a crying shame. Latin is an excellent subject. It opens up vast swathes of literature, history, theology, etc. It’s brilliant for developing logic and language acquisition. More state schools should be offering it.Exclusive: Thousands of secondary pupils face 'significant disruption' after the government scrapped its state school Latin programme mid-year buff.ly/4fr1XPV
- A really important letter that should make MPs sit up and listen. Senior lawyers from across practice and academia, including a former Chief Coroner, a former Lord Chancellor, and distinguished academics, KCs, Peers and others, warn of the dangers of legalising assisted suicide.
- Perhaps we can now dispense with the idea that the Bank of England and similar institutions are run by politically impartial oracles and return them to political accountability and control?
- I've been wary of writing this, as it's still so raw. But I really think that, as a society, we should be extremely wary of normalising suicide, even in supposedly 'exceptional' circumstances of terminal illness and acute physical pain.
- I've asked a colleague who teaches stats in the University to run constituency deprivation scores and assisted suicide votes through some independent statistical analysis. The results are quite interesting. Here, for example, are how Labour MPs split on assisted suicide:













