Cardinal Vincent Nichols has called the way in which the assisted suicide/euthanasia Bill is being handled by the UK government a “shambles” [1].
“I believe it is deeply irresponsible of any government to allow a change of this magnitude to be carried out without due, proper, government-supported parliamentary process,” said Cardinal Nichols.
“I think what’s happening, if it came to pass, would be the biggest change that this country has seen for many, many decades at least, probably more. On the back of what – five, six, seven hours’ debate?”
He added: “I was told that the fox hunting bill [in 2004] endured 700 hours of debate.”
Cardinal Nichols said that there was “something deeply lacking in a government that isn’t prepared to guide and sponsor, if it wants to, this process of legal change”, describing the ongoing process around the Bill as a “shambles”.
Despite these concerns, the cardinal said he still hopes that the Bill could be defeated.
Meanwhile, the Labour MP pushing the bill has made a concession [2] that doctors would be banned from raising the option of assisted dying without discussing alternatives and must provide detailed assessments of patients’ mental capacity to decide their fate.