The Senedd must not consent to the assisted suicide bill – here’s why

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is currently being discussed and debated in the House of Lords. This bill seeks to change health and social care provision in both England and Wales. However, health is a policy issue devolved to the Senedd and due to constitutional convention, the UK parliament need the ​“legislative consent” (ie vote) from the Senedd for those aspects of the bill that amend health policy in Wales. 

Clause 47 – Reporting on implementation of the act

Clause 47 requires the secretary of state to publish and lay before parliament periodic reports on the act’s implementation and future plans. Amendment 784 adds a requirement to consult the Welsh ministers when preparing these reports.

Clause 49 – Monitoring by commissioner

Sponsored

Clause 49 requires the commissioner to monitor compliance with the act, investigate referred matters and submit an annual report to the secretary of state and the Welsh ministers. The report must include specified information on eligibility failures, panel refusals and the act’s impact on people with protected characteristics, and it must be prepared in consultation with the chief medical officers and relevant stakeholders.

Clause 50 – Review of the act

Clause 50 requires the secretary of state, within 12 months of the end of the act’s initial five-year period, to conduct a review of the act’s operation and lay a report before parliament. The review must assess whether the act has met its aim of enabling terminally ill adults, subject to safeguards, to access assisted dying, and consider the adequacy of palliative and end-of-life care, the impact on people with learning disabilities, and any concerns about the act’s operation, alongside the secretary of state’s conclusions and recommendations.

Clause 55 – Duty to consult before making regulations

Clause 55 introduces a duty to consult before regulations are made under certain provisions of the act. In relation to Clause 42, which gives Welsh ministers broad powers to make regulations on voluntary assisted dying services in Wales within devolved competence, the amendment adds a requirement that Welsh ministers must consult appropriate persons before exercising those powers. 

The Evangelical Alliance team in Wales have written to all MSs ahead of the vote on Tuesday 20 January, urging them to not give consent and to vote against. It is important to understand that a vote against is a decision to not operationalise an assisted suicide pathway in Wales. The fight continues to advocate and mobilise peers in Westminster to defeat the bill at third reading.

Here is an opportunity for Evangelical Alliance members in Wales to express your concerns and views on introducing an assisted suicide pathway into health and social care provision in Wales. 

You can do this by clicking the ​“Contact your MS” button below. You will be directed to the Senedd parliament search tool to find your local representative’s contact email.

In the body of your email, we encourage all members to include your postal address at the end of your email and to engage in a Christ-like manner, particularly with those MSs who may have expressed a different point of view to your own on this issue.