BuDS has written to Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, to ask him to use his powers to clarify the title of Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill. We feel the present title is misleading and argumentative, in breach of Parliamentary rules.
The titles of Parliamentary Bills are legally significant. Because of this, they have to comply with Parliamentary rules as set out in Erskine May (the Parliamentary rule book). BuDS has checked these rules, and does not believe that Kim Leadbeater’s Private Members Bill complies with them.
The present title of the Bill is the “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill”. The two rules we believe this title breaks are:
- Being misleading. The Bill does not deal with common ‘end of life’ issues, for example palliative care, funerals, or making a will. The Bill actually deals only with providing assistance to terminally ill adults to take their own life. The Bill therefore deals with assisted suicide, not ‘end of life’. Parliament’s rules are clear that the title of a Bill must accurately and straightforwardly describe its content and purpose.
- Being argumentative. Assisted dying or assisted suicide is a highly controversial and emotive topic, with strong views expressed on both sides. Those who campaign for assisted dying tend to use vague phrases like ‘end of life’ rather than factual phrases like ‘assisted suicide’. If the Bill’s title uses phrases associated with one side of the argument, especially when those phrases are not factually accurate (see above), then the Bill’s title is by definition argumentative. Parliament’s rules are clear that the titles of Bills cannot be argumentative or sloganistic.
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You can read and download our letter to the Speaker below. It sets out the specific Parliamentary rules that we think have been broken.
Post header image of Sir Lindsay Hoyle ©House of Commons/Roger Harris