Religious MPs ‘must stop imposing morality on assisted dying debate’

Religious MPs opposed to assisted dying must stop “imposing their own morality on the rest of us” because Britain is not “teeming with granny killers”, a former minister has said.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate, Kit Malthouse criticised Christian MPs who he said seemed to think they had the right to prevent a change in the law because everyone was “waiting to bump off elderly relatives”.

But Sir Desmond Swayne, a fellow Tory, warned that changing the law to legalise assisted dying could see people killed simply because they were old, like in Logan’s Run, the  the 1970s dystopian film.

MPs give impassioned speeches for and against legislative change in the Westminster Hall debate. Dame Esther Rantzen was praised for her role in bringing the conversation to the fore, having revealed in December that she had joined the Swiss Dignitas clinic as she lives with stage four cancer.

Sir David Davis, a former Tory minister, talked about how he had decided to support assisted dying after his mother died in “pain and terror”.

Opening the Westminster Hall debate, the Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, a member of the petitions committee, said public opinion on assisted dying “has shifted in one direction”, citing polls showing “overwhelming support for law changes with safeguards in place” and a rise in UK members of Dignitas.

The issue was last voted on in the Commons in 2015, when it was defeated at second reading by 330 votes to 118. Monday’s debate had no vote, but was a chance for MPs to share their own and their constituents’ views.

Mr Malthouse said: “[The public] do not understand why so many people in this House can stand for the status quo when the status quo is appalling. We have hundreds of people taking their own lives, thousands dying agonising horrible deaths who may wish to do something different. It’s an outrage.

“The second thing they don’t understand is the view that the country is teeming with granny killers, that all of us are waiting to bump off elderly relatives so we can pocket the cash like we’re some kind of nation of Jeremy Bambers intent on enriching ourselves.

“And they don’t understand how people of a genuine religious faith can seek to impose their own morality on the rest of us. People need to realise it is not compulsory. You may not want it for yourself, you may not want it for your relatives, but please don’t stop me having it.”

Sir Desmond told the debate: “There is a profound danger, in my view, that what begins as a choice will end as an expectation.”

Siobhan Baillie, another Conservative, said a constituent’s mother had “considered taking her own life as her best friend had actually done”, but did not, despite being deeply unwell, and had then taken 16 weeks to die “effectively from starvation”.

She said it was not “necessarily coercion” but rather “the way that people feel in a society that changes the law”.

Sir David said he was not religious but had always viewed “life as sacred”, but had changed his mind following his mother’s “miserable” death from brain and lung cancer, during which she was in “considerable pain and terror”.

In contrast, a constituent’s father’s death had been described to him as having been a “beautiful death” at Dignitas.

He said: “I have come to the conclusion that as long as extremely strict controls are put in place, so that no-one feels pressured to end their life, I am supportive of the legalisation of assisted dying.”

Demonstrators on both sides of the debate had gathered outside Parliament ahead of the argument, with Jonathan Dimbleby, the broadcaster, among them.

He has previously described the current law as “increasingly unbearable” after the death of his younger brother Nicholas, who suffered with motor neurone disease.

In a message to MPs, he said: “Get off the fence, don’t sit on your hands, have a proper full debate about all the implications, and at the end of that I am sure they will introduce legislation.”

Those who oppose a change in the law have voiced concerns that legalising assisted dying could put pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a burden on others, and argue the disabled, elderly, sick or depressed could be especially at risk.

Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of the campaign group Care Not Killing, described Monday’s debate as a missed opportunity to talk about fixing the UK’s palliative and social care system.

He said: “Instead of discussing this dangerous and ideological policy, we should be talking about how to fix the UK’s broken and patchy palliative care system so everyone can have a dignified death.”

Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.

A Bill was introduced in Scotland last month – the third time members of the Scottish Parliament will have considered the issue.