There are a handful of significant changes to the law in this country that reach across society, class and generations. The Abortion Act and the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, the abolition of the Death Penalty two years earlier, legalisation of same sex marriage in 2013 and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in 1990 which was the first law of its kind in the world. All of those have had profound impacts on further legislation, social attitudes and the lives of individuals and their families.
On Friday MPs will vote on the Second Reading of Kim Leadbeater’s Private Members Bill on Assisted Dying which, if passed, will join that list. It is a free vote – there is no party line so MPs can vote according to their conscience and beliefs, not how they’re told to by party whips. It is, of course, an issue that provokes strong feeling on both sides of the argument, genuine concerns about coercion and it being a ‘slippery slope’ to state intervention alongside the heart wrenching desire to have control over one’s death and dignity. If it gets through the second reading, it will follow the process of committee hearings and scrutiny in both Houses of Parliament. If it doesn’t then I reckon it’s unlikely to be revisited for another decade.
This early on in Parliament with hundreds of new MPs still finding their way around the place it will be a huge test of their commitment to and understanding of the responsibility that comes with election to parliament. New MPs might disagree with government measures on other issues but will, usually vote as they’re told to at least at this stage in their careers because disloyalty doesn’t help them climb the greasy political pole. There are those who say the government should stay out of the debate, but interventions from the Heath and Justice Secretaries (both against) put the spoke in that particular wheel. There are powerful arguments on both sides from Gordon Brown to Esther Rantzen and, of course MPs will have been lobbied by their constituents, religious, health, disability and other groups and seen polls that have shown the public broadly in favour of assisted dying.
Given the store that is, rightly, set by party discipline especially on unpopular moves like scrapping the Winter Fuel Allowance or changing the tax rules for farmers, it’s going to be very hard for many MPs to remember how to think independently, to delve deep into the arguments and their own views, to think of the impact long after they’ve left politics. To be part of changing society is a phrase too often used glibly but this time it’s real, and those MPs are on their own. But it is also an opportunity for parliament and those we elect to represent us there to be at its best – thoughtful, courteous and respectful. After the pantomime politics of the last decade or so, let’s hope they can rise to the occasion.
