MPs discuss the Assisted Dying Bill

MPs spoke to KentOnline about their views on the Assisted Dying Bill

Transcript

00:00I am considering my options at the moment. I've had representation from religious leaders in Medway,

00:05also from my residents, as well as my regular surgeries that I hold and coffee events.

00:10I am still balancing these judgments, they're very fine indeed and I will be listening to

00:15the debate tomorrow where I intend to make my mind up. I will not be abstaining, however,

00:21I can guarantee that I will make my mind up one way or the other, but I'm still listening to

00:26viewpoints at this moment in time. I shall be opposing the bill for some personal and

00:32some practical reasons. The personal ones are personal. I think it is a good thing that it's

00:38a free vote. I think it's a good thing that it's being debated. I have a huge respect for Kim

00:42Leadbeater as a personal friend and as a politician and I think she's been extremely

00:49diligent. I agree with her on very many issues but on this one I happen to disagree with her.

00:54I believe very strongly that we need to put more and better resource into both hospital

01:02and into particularly hospice palliative care. At the moment there's a lack of experience

01:10in hospitals. The hospices are under-resourced. Both are capable of providing excellent services

01:18and we do need dignity in dying, but I believe that the hospice palliative care route is the

01:26correct route and that the route that Kim Leadbeater and her legislation wish to go down

01:32is the wrong route. Going forward this could be something that we should consider and maybe

01:38it came too soon into this parliament as well, so maybe more discussion, more debates around this

01:46would be good. As we know, yes, Belgium recently added children and mental health patients into

01:55this list, so I think, yeah, more discussion and this may be considered in the future.