What is standing in the way of the assisted dying bill?

Next Friday, 29 November, sees the second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - sponsored by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater - which has the potential to be a major piece of social legislation.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Early assumptions that Labour's overwhelming Commons majority of about 150 would see the private member's bill go through virtually on the nod have been confounded by an unexpectedly hostile reception, especially within the cabinet, but also among Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs, albeit with some Conservatives joining the (arguably) “progressive” side of the argument.

As it is a matter of conscience, MPs have been granted a free vote, and this time, for a change, it seems more genuinely so than usual – the party whips don’t seem to be particularly active behind the scenes. There have been some surprise developments, and with so many new members across the House, there is still much to play for...

What’s the latest?

The mother of the House of Commons, Diane Abbott (a Labour MP, there since 1987), and the father of the House, Edward Leigh (Tory, an MP since 1983), usually diametrically opposed, have published a joint article warning about the effect of the bill on “vulnerable people” and bewailing the lack of time for debate among their less experienced parliamentary colleagues.

One especially sharp sentence reads: “Imagine the pensioner whose children cannot afford houses of their own watching her limited savings, earmarked for those children, disappearing on social care and so feeling a ‘duty to die’.”