Confusion as bid to block euthanasia bill fails

13 April 2012

A cross-party bid to block euthanasia by the "back door" was rejected by the Commons today amid chaotic scenes.

The amendment to the Mental Capacity Bill, tabled by Tory former leader Iain Duncan Smith, was defeated by 297 votes to 203, a majority of 94.

But the vote came after confusion in the chamber as it emerged that the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, had made commitments to critics of the legislation.

Furious MPs demanded to know the precise wording of a letter sent by Lord Falconer to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff the Most Rev Peter Smith.

Junior constitutional affairs minister David Lammy faced a barrage of interventions in the final moments of the debate before MPs voted.

He eventually told the House that Lord Falconer had agreed to make explicit in the Bill that it would not authorise any decision where the motive was to kill.

"We have come to a form of wording where we will be able to bring an amendment that will say that where a determination relates to life-sustaining treatment, the decision maker must not be motivated by the desire to bring about the person's death regardless of what would be in the person's best interest.

"I am convinced that this fully meets the concerns that surround [the amendments]," Mr Lammy told MPs.

Ministers have persistently claimed that the Bill does not allow euthanasia through the back door but, under the Lord Chancellor's commitment, it appears that will now be made more explicit when the Bill reaches the Lords.

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