As Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill comes before the Commons, the former justice secretary Lord Falconer (who introduced a similar bill to the Lords) and The Spectator’s chairman Lord Moore debate assisted dying.
‘When people talk about the moral overreach of the state, they are blind to the fact the state is already there’
CHARLIE FALCONER: The law has effectively broken down. If you assist anybody to take their own life, you’re immediately guilty of an offence, irrespective of motive, and you can be sent to prison for a maximum of 14 years. Even the authorities no longer think that’s enforceable. The Director of Public Prosecutions, the chief prosecutor in the country, has introduced rules that say there are certain circumstances in which he will not prosecute, particularly where somebody assists another to die motivated by compassion and is not a medical professional. That indicates the law is failing and needs to change.
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