Assisted dying law will need Welsh Parliament vote

Politicians in Cardiff Bay are to get a vote over whether controversial Westminster legislation to legalise assisted dying should apply to Wales.

Senedd members will have to decide whether to give consent for Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s legislation to apply in Wales, should it be agreed by the UK Parliament.

Last October Senedd members – including First Minister Eluned Morgan and Health Secretary Jeremy Miles – voted against the broader principle of assisted dying.

If agreed by MPs, Leadbeater’s legislation would make it legal for over-18s who are terminally ill to be given assistance to end their own life.

Separately, amendments passed in March by MPs could also give Senedd politicians and ministers power over the date for when most of the law comes into force.

The UK and Welsh governments have remained neutral on the backbench legislation. Miles and Leadbeater met to discuss the bill earlier this week.

On Wednesday the Welsh government published documentation confirming Labour ministers in Cardiff believe Leadbeater’s bill requires the consent of the Senedd.

Although it amends the law regarding suicide – something which the UK Parliament is responsible for in Wales – the Welsh government says parts of the law tread into matters that the Senedd is usually responsible for.

That includes the chief medical officer drawing up guidance on how the act operates, and powers for Welsh ministers to provide assisted dying services.

It means that the Senedd needs to pass what is known as a “legislative consent motion” (LCM).

When they were first envisaged parliament was not meant to legislate in devolved areas without the Senedd’s permission via an LCM, but it is not legally binding.

If the LCM was rejected it could be ignored by the UK Parliament, although that would be politically difficult.

Westminster Labour has promised to “strengthen” the convention behind LCMs at the last general election.

A committee of MPs has been amending the bill. In March it agreed by a small margin that Welsh ministers should have powers over when to start most of the legislation’s provisions.

Under the amendment, which was backed by 12 votes to 11 and proposed by Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney, the Senedd will have to vote on regulations to bring the law into force.

Such a decision would only take place if the law gets through the UK Parliament – itself not certain – while the LCM would likely be held earlier.

The proposal was opposed by UK Labour ministers Stephen Kinnock and Sarah Sackman, as well as Leadbeater herself.

At the committee in March, Olney said: “Regardless of where we stand on assisted dying, we should respect democracy.

Referring to the October vote, she said: “The people of Wales, through their elected representatives – acting as they should, as representatives – have voted against assisted dying.

“We should respect that choice and not impose it on them, in whole or in part, without their consent.”

But Aberavon MP Kinnock said the amendment could potentially “create a disparity, particularly in relation to the introduction of the criminal offences, and a lack of certainty”.

The amendment followed evidence to the committee by Aberyswyth University emeritus professor Emyr Lewis, who asked the MPs to consider whether ministers should be given powers over when the legislation begins to apply when the Senedd had rejected the broader principle.

He told BBC Wales he had questioned whether it would be “constitutionally appropriate” for Parliament to have ignored the earlier Senedd vote.

“We know the Senedd has rejected this. Is it right that… the parliament in London should impose, if you want to put it that way, on Wales this change in the law, which is going to have far reaching effects?”

He said that if the Senedd supported the bill it could be brought in in Wales, should it be passed by MPs, as it would be in England.

“If, however, the feeling in Wales remains as it was when the matter was voted on before then this very morally and legally far reaching bill won’t be brought into force in Wales if the people of Wales don’t want it.”

He told BBC Wales that the Olney amendment could give ministers in Cardiff powers to block the legislation.

The law professor said: “Welsh ministers could block it and so could the Senedd in Wales.”

The Senedd vote last October saw 26 Members of the Senedd opposing Labour MS Julie Morgan’s motion with 19 MSs in support versus nine abstentions.

Leadbeater’s bill is narrower than Morgan’s motion, specifying it would apply to over-18s who are expected to die within six months, with a number of measures intended to act as safeguards.

Morgan’s vote proposed that suffering “intolerably” from an incurable physical condition should have the option of an assisted death. Former counsel general Mick Antoniw has said he expects a different debate.

The difference between the law and the earlier Senedd vote was acknowledged in the committee’s debate on Olney’s amendment.

Leadbeater said the Morgan motion was “very different from the legislation before this Parliament”.

She said changes made to the bill allowing ministers powers to make regulations about voluntary assisted dying services would “hopefully also provide some reassurance on issues around devolution”.

No date has been set for the LCM.

A spokesperson for Kim Leadbeater said discussions with the Welsh government “have been very constructive and Kim is determined to respect the devolution agreement and work with Welsh ministers in the interests of terminally ill people in both England and Wales”.

The Welsh government said: “This is a complex issue with many moral, operational, constitutional and legal considerations, and like the UK government we have adopted a neutral position.”