Politics
‘Palliative and social care must be fixed before assisted dying debate’
Andy Burnham has said that the debate on assisted dying shouldn’t happen until palliative and social care are improved.
Speaking to Sky News reporter Sam Coates after delivering a speech on adult social care in England, he said:
I take the view that that debate, and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point about those issues, personally I think there’s something that needs to happen first, and that’s the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care.
I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in a context of people not receiving that care and having the piece of mind about that care, and that’s a position that I will stick to.
The prime minister yesterday pledged to tackle adult social care, with plans to finally launch a National Care Service (NCS). Burnham plans to nationalise care through improving the workforce.
While the NCS is much welcomed, many are worried that it will be carved up and sold for parts to privateers like the NHS was.
Burnham also announced that Louise Casey will be bringing forward her social care review by a year to 2027. The report will outline how the government can deliver the NCS. The prime minister also confirmed that his approach to tackling the care crisis will be cross-party.
This was backed by Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who shared on X that he’d had a meeting with Burnham. Davey said he raised the issue “closest to my heart “, which is unpaid carers — but which was absent from Burnham’s address.
Assisted dying: The legal history
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was originally voted through by MPs after Kim Leadbeater used every bullshit weapon in her arsenal to stop those concerned about coercion and disabled people voicing opposition.
In the Lords, so many Peers wanted to speak that the debate had to be spread over two days, with two-thirds of speakers being against the bill. It progressed to committee stage, where the corrupt committee restricted evidence.
After that it went back to the lords, where Charlie Falconer casually said that both poor people and pregnant people would be allowed assisted deaths. The bill eventually ran out of time as so many peers wanted to scrutinise it, which again was criticised.
However, ironically, the Assisted Dying Bill just won’t f*cking die and is due to come back to parliament in August.
MP Lauren Edwards is attempting to push assisted dying through parliament again using dirty tricks.
As I wrote at the time:
Under the Parliament Act, if the same bill is passed by MPs in two consecutive parliamentary sessions, peers have no power to stop it. While Lords can suggest amendments, there’s also no requirement for the Commons to pass them.
And here’s the worst part: if the Lords don’t agree to pass the bill and it gets talked out by the end of the parliamentary session, it becomes law by default.
Edwards, who is apparently as bloodthirsty as Leadbeater, told BBC Radio 4:
Laws passed in the House of Commons are then refined by the House of Lords, but they don’t have the opportunity to block them.
It’s perfectly reasonable for us to ask the House of Lords to finish the job.
Yes, she used the words ‘finish the job’ about euthanising disabled people.
Lauren Edwards on Burnham’s stance
Of course, the ghoul had something to say about the prime minister’s comments, but it appears she’s trying to get on his good side.
Her statement read:
We all want to see better social, palliative and hospice care in every part of the country. The government has already made better palliative care provision a priority and it is very welcome that the new Prime Minister wants to take that even further.
The evidence from around the world is that this can happen alongside providing the choice of an assisted death to that small minority for whom even the very best palliative care cannot relieve their suffering.
She continued:
Improving social and palliative care and offering choice in the last weeks of a dying person’s life can and must go hand in hand. The bill that has been before parliament and thoroughly debated since October 2024 provides for a four-year implementation period. That means if my current bill becomes law next year, we would have until 2031 to fix the status quo that Andy Burnham rightly says is broken and has let people down for too long
However, advocates against the bill have pointed out how misleading Edwards’ statement is.
Dan Hitchens pointed out on X that the bill’s remit will include far more than “a small minority”. It also has no provision to ensure those seeking it consider palliative care first.
Hitchens wrote:
In fact, when Labour MPs proposed an amendment to guarantee a meeting with a palliative care specialist, Kim Leadbeater et al voted it down.
He also highlights that experts warned the committee that the two cannot go hand in hand and assisted dying would hinder the further development of palliative care.
Finally, he points to the fact that the four-year implementation plan Edwards references was described by Leadbeater as “a backstop”, with campaigners worrying it could be ignored and pushed through.
Burnham could still kill disabled people
Whilst it’s clear that some ghouls in the Labour Party are trying to push this murderous bill through, it’s a relief to hear that Burnham wants to commit to fixing the care system first.
However, it’s still concerning to disabled people that alongside this, he’s still very much supportive of the DWPs plans. It seems he may still kill disabled people one way or another.
Featured image via Kwaku Griffin/ Pexels
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