Two ministers are to be assigned to the assisted dying bill in a highly unusual move for a private member’s bill where the government is neutral – a sign that it will intensely monitor the details of such a significant change.
The bill’s committee will have nine MPs who were opponents of the bill, including its most high-profile Conservative opponent, Danny Kruger, and 11 MPs who were in favour.
The health minister Stephen Kinnock and the justice minister Sarah Sackman will be on the bill committee for its next stage in parliament. They voted in favour of the bill. Along with Leadbeater, that makes the committee balanced 14-9 in favour, a 60% majority.
The government is likely to suggest a number of amendments to the legislation, though they may go down in the name of Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who proposed the bill.
Leadbeater confirmed on Wednesday that she would put opponents on the committee of MPs who scrutinise the bill and take public evidence before the next parliamentary vote – which is expected to be at the end of April 2025.
Leadbeater said she hoped the committee would “bring together colleagues with differing views and valuable experience in order to give the bill the detailed scrutiny it deserves and requires”.
She said the committee “will have the task of going through it line by line and examining any amendments that are put forward”.
The committee will have 12 Labour MPs, four Conservatives, three Liberal Democrats and one Plaid Cymru MP.
Six Labour MPs on the committee voted in favour of the legislation at second reading, many of whom have a background in health or disability rights: Dr Simon Opher who is still a working GP, Lewis Atkinson, a former NHS manager, Rachel Hopkins, a former local public health lead, Marie Tidball, a former director of the Oxford University disability law and policy project; as well as Jake Richards, a former barrister, and Bambos Charalambous.
Labour MPs who voted against the legislation at third reading who will be on the committee are Naz Shah, a former NHS commissioner, Daniel Francis, the parent of a child with cerebral palsy, Sojan Joseph, a former mental health nurse, as well as Juliet Campbell, Jack Abbott and Sean Woodcock.
Kit Malthouse, one of the key Tory campaigners for assisted dying, will be on the committee along with Neil Shastri-Hurst, a former doctor and former member of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. Both voted in favour of the change. Along with Kruger, the other Tory MP on the committee who voted against is Rebecca Paul.
Two Lib Dems on the committee voted in favour, Tom Gordon and Sarah Green, and one against, Sarah Olney. Plaid’s Liz Saville-Roberts will also be on the committee – she voted in favour.
Some Labour campaigners against the bill were privately frustrated that a number of their high-profile names were not on the committee – including the former health and social care committee member Rachael Maskell. Others who some opponents had hoped would be on the committee include Jessica Asato, who spoke in the Commons about her concerns about coercive control.
On Wednesday, Maskell launched the Commission on Palliative Care, which will run alongside the bill, backed by more than 20 organisations in health and social care, taking evidence on failures and improvements to end-of-life care.
Lord Darzi, who authored Wes Streeting’s commission into the state of the NHS earlier this year, will sit on the commission, which will begin taking evidence this January. The commission has received backing from two prime ministers, Theresa May and Gordon Brown.
