Growing public unease about assisted suicide in Britain is matched not only by the Fierce resistance of the house of Lords, but also now by increasing concern among MPs.
New polling has suggested that more MPs would oppose the assisted suicide Bill than could be relied upon to back it if the Bill were revived in the next parliamentary session.
The polling, which was carried out by Whitestone Insight, found that only 41% of MPs surveyed can definitely be relied upon to vote “Aye” again, while 45% said they would continue to vote no, suggesting that if the legislation were put to a vote today, it would likely be rejected by the House of Commons.
Only 12 MPs need to change from supporting the previous Bill to opposing the new Bill for the new Bill to fail, and the poll suggests that any MP considering bringing back the assisted suicide Bill after the King’s Speech would likely be destined to fail.
In addition, a majority of MPs surveyed, approximately 61%, recognise the authority of the House of Lords to amend, block or reject the legislation if safeguards are deemed inadequate. Only 28% of MPs do not recognise this.
According to the polling, 47% of MPs believe that such a rejection of the assisted suicide Bill by the House of Lords would not trigger a “constitutional crisis”, while only 41% believe that it might.
The polling also revealed that many MPs have serious concerns about the safety of the assisted suicide Bill. Almost half (49%) of MPs polled expressed a fear that the assisted suicide Bill, if legalised, would lead to systemic pressure on elderly people and people with disabilities to opt for assisted suicide, when they otherwise would not have considered it.
Only 43% of MPs surveyed believe that the current safeguards in the assisted suicide Bill are sufficient, while a majority of them, 52%, are not certain that the legislation would prevent coercion or error from occurring. Additionally, 43% of MPs stated that they knew of someone who voted in favour of the assisted suicide Bill with the expectation that the House of Lords would work to “make it safe”.