This is Prospect’s rolling coverage of the assisted dying debate. This page will be updated with the latest from our correspondent, Mark Mardell. Read the rest of our coverage here
5pm
Plans for assisted dying in France have been dragged into the country’s ongoing political crisis. This is a critical week for the new French prime minister, François Bayrou, as he forces through his budget, sidestepping a vote in the National Assembly. He could well fall if the hard left and hard right unite in a no confidence motion, as they did to bring down his predecessor at the end of last year, leaving the vote on the French euthanasia bill in limbo.
Bayrou was expected to press ahead with the bill, which combined legalising euthanasia with strengthening palliative care—a balancing act between expanding end-of-life choices and improving existing support. There, as here, opponents of the bill argue you cannot have assisted dying without better end-of-life care. But, of course, they don’t really want to make that trade-off. So in what appears to be an attempt to appease the hard right and the most conservative voices, Bayrou has taken a dramatic step and split the two ideas.
Improving palliative care is relatively uncontroversial and looks likely to be approved. Euthanasia, however, remains deeply divisive in France. The issue has now reached a critical point, not just as a policy debate but as a political manoeuvre. However, it is deeply felt. Bayrou, a patrician conservative and an old-style Catholic, has long opposed assisted dying, and his delay is also an attempt to let the bill quietly die. Nor is he ashamed of his views: “You cannot uproot what you believe from what you are, it is impossible.”
Bayrou went on: “What influences the citizen in me on this subject? It is the family man that I am, and perhaps also the son that I was. We are touching on life, and the meaning of life.”
Which is very noble, but it has enraged the Socialists. One of their MPs, Jérôme Guedj, said: “We know François Bayrou’s convictions on this subject. The position of a minority prime minister in a very precarious political context cannot be imposed on the National Assembly.”
The French government insists that the bill is still alive, but its future is uncertain. It may well outlive this government. Even if Bayrou survives the next couple of weeks he will be in constant peril, with many expecting fresh elections in September.
3rd February
11am
The Sunday Times has run an excellent piece on last week’s three days of oral evidence, highlighting eight important questions MPs need to answer. Stephen Bleach, who watched the proceedings, concludes with the evidence of Pat Malone.
“For a few seconds, there was silence. The committee looked shellshocked. In the public seats, some wept. We had finally, you felt, got to the heart of the matter.
“The committee’s task seems impossibly difficult. Malone reminded them why they are trying. His family cannot come back, but if this bill is to pass, these MPs will have to fashion a law that might have given them that deliverance, and not create more victims in the process. I wish them luck. They will need it.“
You can read his full article here.
