'Immense complexities': UK's longest-serving MP calls for delay to assisted dying vote

The UK's longest-serving MP has called for the assisted dying bill to be delayed as he said there is not enough time "to consider the immense complexities".

MPs will get a free vote, where they can vote however they want, on legalising assisted dying on 29 November, after the details were published on 11 November.

Sir Edward Leigh, the longest-serving MP (father of the House), told the Commons on Wednesday: "There has simply not been enough time to consider the immense complexities of the issue until we are required to make a decision."

Politics latest: Defence secretary under fire over timing of military cuts

The Conservative, who has been an MP since 1983, introduced a bill to parliament to require the government to issue guidance on the criminal law of health professionals administering pain relief to terminally ill people.

He said the bill is an attempt to delay the assisted dying vote and to provide more information to those voting. It has been given a second reading on 6 December - after the assisted dying bill's first vote.

Sir Edward and Diane Abbott, the longest-serving female MP, have also written a joint letter calling for the Commons to reject the assisted dying bill, arguing it has been rushed through and puts vulnerable people at risk.

The assisted dying bill has caused a split among MPs of all parties, but about 100 are still believed to be undecided.

Speaking in the Commons, Sir Edward said there should be an impact assessment, including on the NHS and judges.

Two independent doctors would have to be satisfied a person is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge would have to sign it off.

He said the state of palliative care and the current options available to people who are dying needs to be made clear to the public before a vote can go ahead.

"So much of the impetus in favour of assisted suicide comes from an understandable fear of dying in pain," he said.

But, he said hospices help people die "as peacefully... as possible" without administering legal drugs.

Palliative care nurses have told him a patient can be given as much morphine as they like but it will not kill someone.

However, he said sometimes nurses, normally in hospitals, are unwilling to double the dose "for fear of legal consequences".

"I hope that if I'm dying of terminal cancer, a nurse won't hesitate to give me as much as necessary," he said.

Read more:
Cabinet split over assisted dying

And while he has spoken to palliative care nurses and doctors, and been with a friend in hospice as they died peacefully after being knocked out with morphine, he said the public deserves to know more.

The increasingly older population in the UK means more funding is needed for palliative care, including for hospices and care homes, he added.

Sir Edward said the assisted dying bill debate in 10 days time could be seen as a "useful airing of the issues that in a year or two, we could make a measured and well-informed decision".

"What we don't want is pressure for assisted suicide for old people, because there are not enough resources to pay for them in the present system. Again, we need much more information on this whole area," he said.