No debate on assisted dying before June general election
Plans for a States debate on assisted dying before June’s general election have been called off.
As recently as the end of last year, deputies in favour of changing the law were intending to submit a requete to put the issue to a vote in the first three months of this year.
But lead requerant Gavin St Pier said yesterday that the proposals would not be lodged by 24 March, which is the last date on which items submitted can be more or less guaranteed of making it to the final meeting of the States Assembly’s term which starts on 30 April.
‘Although I have largely drafted a requete based on the Jersey model, I am not currently proposing to lodge this for debate before the end of this political term,’ said Deputy St Pier.
‘There is already a substantial queue of business before the States of Deliberation and this matter deserves not to be rushed.
‘It requires proper debate and scrutiny.’
Propositions, such as requetes, can be lodged in the period between the Assembly’s final meeting and the end of the term on 30 June, and they would then be debated early in the life of the next States.
Alternatively, Deputy St Pier could publish his draft motion before the election, but hold back submitting it to the States for debate.
Either way, he is understood still to be keen to lead a requete if he is re-elected at the general election, and may believe the chances of it succeeding will be higher in a new Assembly formed following a general election at which assisted dying could become a key issue.
‘In the meantime, the Isle of Man’s legislation has reached the end of all its parliamentary stages, and the Leadbeater Bill in Westminster for England and Wales is very likely to have completed all its stages by this summer,’ said Deputy St Pier.
The States Assembly in Jersey has also backed assisted dying and a debate on the detailed legislation is expected by the end of this year. A bill to legalise the practice is currently in committee stage at the Scottish Parliament.
Moves to legalise assisted dying were rejected by the States in 2004 and again in 2018.
Although Deputy St Pier has criticised the States for following rather than leading on the issue, he is now hoping that developments in other British Isles since then, together with public opinion in Guernsey, will encourage the next Assembly to vote in favour of changing the law.
Research published last year indicated overwhelming public support locally for a change in the law to allow assisted dying.
