Assisted Dying Bill

Plaid Cymru considers assisted dying a matter of conscience and would not whip its MPs in any future parliamentary vote. We believe it is crucial that a vote is held and that the issue be handled with the utmost sensitivity. Legislation must not be rushed through Parliament as that would prevent full consideration of the ethical and practical implications. I believe in a compassionate and dignified approach to assisted dying. Forcing people to endure life with severe physical or emotional pain is inhumane, and decriminalisation could bring better safeguards and regulation. Alongside these considerations, we must improve palliative care, both before and after any vote on assisted dying. Assisted dying should never be seen as an alternative to addressing the failures within the NHS in supporting patients and their families during some of life’s hardest moments. Nor should the Government prioritise decriminalisation of assisted dying over efforts to improve the dismal state of social care.

We must ensure that there is sufficient scrutiny of this legislation, which is set to make a fundamental change in the nature of the law related to the legal primacy of protecting the right to life. Good law is dependent on detail and clarity, especially in the definition of terms such as capacity, and also the responsibility of individuals. This is the most far-reaching piece of home legislation for which this generation of MPs will be responsible: we have a duty to ensure that we do this to the best of our abilities. While this is presented by some people as being a matter of individual right, it inevitably creates duties and responsibilities that extend beyond the private individual. It is presently unclear how Equalities law might be applied in future to groups of people to whom this legislation is not presently relevant.

Plaid Cymru Dwyfor Meirionnydd The Rt Hon. Liz Saville Roberts MP and Mabon ap Gwynfor MS