Govt refuses to do any work on legalising assisted suicide
Assisted Suicide
Ministers will not do any work on legalising assisted suicide, with no plans for a public consultation on the controversial proposals or a call for evidence.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Justice Minister Robert Buckland has ruled out any such work and instead, MPs will have a free vote, as is traditionally the case with conscience issues.
Pro-assisted suicide campaigners have been agitating for a review in recent months as a stepping stone towards a dangerous change in the law.
Last week, Matt Hancock said he'd asked the Office of National Statistics to provide figures for the number of terminally ill people who'd committed suicide.
Parliament will also debate assisted suicide later this year after an Assisted Dying Bill came seventh in the private members' ballot in the House of Lords.
Private members bills are extremely unlikely to become law, especially if the Government refuses to back them.
Commenting, CARE's CCO James Mildred said:
"The Government is well within it's rights to refuse to engage in any work on legalising something as controversial as euthanasia or assisted suicide.
"The current law is not broken and provides a good balance, offering protection for the most vulnerable and leniency in difficult cases.
"The burden of proof is on those agitating for a dangerous change in the law that will forever change the trust between patients and medical staff.
"Look around the world and you see the slippery slope on display because if you legalise assisted suicide, it soon becomes normalised and you'll see incremental expansion and increasing numbers.
"This is not a path we want to go down."
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Govt refuses to do any work on legalising assisted suicide