From Covid to COP, tax hikes to triple locks, Boris Johnson’s problems are piling up. But now it seems the noble lordships in the Upper House could be about to give him another headache too: a looming crunch clash on the issue of assisted suicide. The House of Lords – where the average age of membership is 70 – will shortly be debating a private members’ bill by Baroness Meacher, the president of the Dignity in Dying campaign.
Meacher’s bill would allow terminally ill patients in their last six months of life to end their own lives with the permission of two doctors and a judge. The legislation had its first reading back in May and will shortly be having its second now that Parliament has returned. It is the fifth time that a bill has been introduced to Parliament on the issue in seven years. The battle lines are now already drawn: on the pro-legalisation side is Meacher and Dignity in Dying; on the other is the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well.
The latter group is fronted by former Cameron speechwriter Danny Kruger, one of the more high profile southern Tories of the 2019 MP intake.
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