It is time for the House of Lords to come to the rescue
For good or ill, Britain is on course to conquer what many saw as the twin peaks of liberal enlightenment: the right to have an abortion right up to the point of birth and the right to allow terminally ill people to take their own lives.
Today's vote in the Commons on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill confirms that last year's general election result has changed Britain more radically than the new Government's official policy programme ever could. The vast majority of this cohort of Labour MPs have seen an opportunity to reshape society according to their own political preferences and they have grabbed that opportunity with enthusiasm.
They could have paused and reflected, as perhaps older, more experienced parliamentarians would have done. They could have insisted on a Bill that had fewer flaws, more safeguards against the dangers that assisted dying will inevitably introduce. They could have had the patience to wait for another opportunity when an improved Bill might be presented, one that had none of the obvious flaws of Kim Leadbeater's Private Member's Bill.
Instead, the enthusiasm with which they have discarded centuries of consensus on the dignity and value of human life has been unnerving. Their willingness to opt for the best available solution rather than insist that, on this occasion, only the perfect one would do has been disquieting.
None of the reservations that opponents to the Bill have been properly addressed. Unless the Lords can force through radical changes, there will remain deep seated and justifiable fears that terminally ill people will face irresistible pressure from members of their own family to 'do the decent thing' and spare everyone even more misery.
Their Lordships in the upper chamber still have an opportunity to improve the Bill and doubtless they will take it. They will take a mercilessly critical eye to Leadbeater's work and make some well-argued arguments to support their amendments. And then it's back to the Commons, where any changes made to the text of the Bill by the Lords will either be approved or overturned by MPs. The parliamentary ping-pong could take some time before one side or the other (usually the Lords) capitulates to the will of the other chamber.
But if ever any topic was appropriate to a long debate and measured disagreement, it is this one. It's now over to our unelected, undemocratic House of Lords to do the job that we can no longer expect the Commons to do.
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