Fresh questions have been raised about Sir Keir Starmer‘s influence on assisted dying legislation after it was shown how Labour plotted a law change while in opposition.
A leaked document revealed a discussion within Labour – prior to the party winning power – about how a Private Member’s Bill could be used to legalise assisted dying.
The policy note is reported to have been drafted in November 2023, shortly before Sir Keir publicly said it would be ‘appropriate’ to use such a Bill to change the law.
The Prime Minister has long been in favour of legalising assisted dying, based on his experience as a former director of public prosecutions.
Labour’s manifesto ahead of last year’s general election made no mention of assisted dying.
But, shortly after the party won power, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament as a Private Member’s Bill.
Sir Keir subsequently granted MPs a free vote on the Bill and, while he has personally voted in favour of the legislation, he pledged his Government would remain neutral on the issue.
The emergence of the leaked policy note has brought fresh accusations that Downing Street is secretly aiding the Bill’s passage, despite the public pledge of impartiality.
Fresh questions have been raised about Sir Keir Starmer’s influence on assisted dying legislation after it was shown how Labour plotted a law change while in opposition
Shortly after her party won power, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament as a Private Member’s Bill
Senior Labour MP Meg Hillier said: ‘It’s hugely disappointing to see what appears to be an attempt to circumvent the Labour Party’s manifesto and policy processes to support a controversial Bill that many Labour MPs and activist just don’t support.
‘This is not how our party should make policy on such a profound issue of life and death, with such far-reaching implications for the NHS and our wider society.’
A source close to Labour opponents of Ms Leadbeater’s Bill said: ‘For assisted dying to be pushed through Parliament under such a false premise is really damaging.
‘Loads of Labour MPs and members are against the Bill, to circumvent our manifesto and policy process like this is unheard of and totally unacceptable.’
Rebecca Paul, the Tory MP for Reigate and a member of the Bill Committee which scrutinised Ms Leadbeater’s Bill in the House of Commons, said: ‘The Government has repeatedly claimed to be neutral on the assisted dying Bill.
‘When I sat on the Bill Committee in the Commons, time and again the two ministers on the Committee stressed Government neutrality despite consistently siding with the Bill sponsor.
‘If these reports are true and the Government had planned before the election to introduce assisted dying through a Private Member’s Bill, they would not only be abusing the Private Member’s Bill process but would also have misled the public.
‘Voters were not told that voting Labour would mean voting for an assisted suicide Bill backed by the Government in all but name.
‘The Government needs to come clean, and the whole process paused before any remaining public confidence in this Bill is eroded completely.’
Tory peer Lord Moylan said Ms Leadbeater’s Bill was ‘clearly a No10 Bill’, as he hit out at a decision by the Government to grant more time for debate in the House of Lords.
‘We can only assume that intense pressure has been exerted on behalf of the Prime Minister to secure these unprecedented extra days,’ he added.
Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, chief executive of Right To Life UK – a charity which opposes Ms Leadbeater’s Bill, said: ‘If these reports are true, the Government has misled MPs, peers and the public about the Bill.
‘The Bill must be withdrawn immediately, as it constitutes an abuse of parliamentary process for the Government to use a Private Member’s Bill to push through its own agenda, while claiming neutrality.’
The Guardian reported the Labour policy note suggested the introduction of assisted dying legislation via a Private Member’s Bill would still allow ‘heavy influence’ for the Government in the parliamentary process.
It is also said to have detailed, because of the likelihood of questions during the general election campaign, that it was ‘necessary to reach a position on how we approach legalisation of assisted dying’.
The document stated that a Private Member’s Bill ‘would allow cross-party working and coalitions to build in a less fractious manner, and allows Labour an element of political cover’.
‘We know there are existing Conservative MPs who are supporters of this policy,’ it added.
‘We also know we can control the parameters of legislation carefully through working with advocacy groups and government civil servants to draft the legislation and provide conditions for parliamentary time.’
A spokesperson for Ms Leadbeater said they ‘categorically denied’ that the MP had any conversations with No10 or Labour’s leadership before she took up the issue of assisted dying after winning the Private Member’s Bill ballot.
They added the Government had ‘remained scrupulously neutral throughout the passage of the Bill through the House of Commons and now into the Lords’.
‘Government officials, lawyers and parliamentary draftsmen have given extensive expert advice to ensure the Bill is workable and effective, but all the policy decisions have been for Kim and Lord [Charles] Falconer alone,’ they said.
‘The allegation that this is Government legislation by the backdoor is simply false.
A Downing Street source also pointed to the Government’s neutralitythroughout the Bill’s passage through the Commons and Lords.
A Labour spokesperson said: ‘It’s completely normal for a wide range of policy proposals to be assessed by political parties in opposition.
‘MPs have been able to vote with their conscience on the Terminally Ill Adults Bill throughout its passage through Parliament and the Government has not taken a position. It is for MPs to decide whether this Bill is passed.’
More than 1,000 suggested changes have been tabled in the Lords to Ms Leadbeater’s Bill – a record high number for a piece of backbench legislation.
Lord Roy Kennedy, the Government chief whip in the Lords, last week said it is ‘clear the House needs additional time to scrutinise the Bill’ given the high number of amendments.
The Bill has two more committee sessions scheduled in December, and will now have a further 10 Fridays available in the New Year between January 9 and April 24.
The record number of amendments prompted concerns the Bill would run out of time to be passed into law.
It sparked a warning from Childline founder Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill with cancer, for peers not to ‘sabotage democracy’ after MPs previously approved her Bill in the Commons.
But a number of peers have rejected accusations of time-wasting, insisting they are doing their job of scrutinising important draft legislation.
