A former Supreme Court judge and England’s chief medical officer are among witnesses due to appear before the assisted dying committee next week.
Lord Sumption and Professor Sir Chris Whitty will be among some 40 witnesses questioned as a group of MPs prepares to undertake formal scrutiny of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Others to appear between Tuesday and Thursday next week include former director of public prosecutions Sir Max Hill, who has previously stated his support for the Bill.
We are going to spend quite a lot of time together and I think it would be helpful if, reflecting the tone of the debate that took place on the floor of the House, we were civil and courteous to each other
Following the three days of evidence, which will also feature academics and palliative care professionals, line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill will begin on February 4.
As the 23 MPs on the assisted dying committee met formally for its first session on Tuesday, members were reminded of the need to be “civil and courteous” to each other amid a tense start.
The Bill, which received a historic yes vote in the Commons in November to pass its first stage, will be scrutinised in the coming weeks as calls persist from some quarters for strengthened safeguards if a new law is to come into force.
The reminder on acting with “customary candour and decency”, from committee chairman Sir Roger Gale, came as a leading opponent of the Bill, Conservative MP Danny Kruger, argued against members sitting in private on Tuesday to discuss witnesses who might give evidence.
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the Bill, said it would be “inappropriate to discuss named individuals” in the context of their suitability, and asked that the committee sit for a short time in private to agree names, before returning to public view.
Mr Kruger insisted there was a “clear public interest case that the public should understand” why certain witnesses have been chosen and others have not, adding “and if there are concerns about the witnesses, they should be aired publicly”.
A majority of the committee voted to sit in private for part of Tuesday afternoon but they returned to public view to confirm names and timetabling for its future sessions.
A claim by Mr Kruger that the Bill has been “written by a campaign group” was strongly rejected by Ms Leadbeater, who said that was “categorically not true” and that she took such a suggestion “quite personally offensively”.
She said the Bill had been drafted by herself and colleagues, with senior legislative expertise.
Mr Kruger apologised and withdrew his comment, but said: “I hope she (Ms Leadbeater) won’t be offended when points are made that she disagrees with.”
Addressing all the MPs in the room, Sir Roger said: “We are going to spend quite a lot of time together and I think it would be helpful if, reflecting the tone of the debate that took place on the floor of the House, we were civil and courteous to each other.
“And that the debate was conducted throughout not only these proceedings, but right throughout the entire committee stage, with customary candour and decency.
“And if we can manage that, accepting that these are highly divisive issues and that strong feelings are held on both sides of the argument, we might just end up with a conclusion satisfying most, if not all, people.”
The Bill could see terminally ill adults in England and Wales with under six months to live legally allowed to end their lives, subject to approval by two doctors and a High Court judge.
Ms Leadbeater has already described the proposed legislation as containing the strictest protections anywhere in the world.
While the Bill passed Second Reading stage after a lengthy debate in the Commons before Christmas, some MPs who voted yes said they might not continue their support if they are not convinced of strong safeguards around aspects including potential coercion.
The Bill will face further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until later this year at the earliest.
Ms Leadbeater has previously said it is likely to be a further two years from a law being passed for an assisted dying service to be in place.
The MPs on the committee and who voted yes to the Bill are: Kim Leadbeater, Sarah Sackman, Stephen Kinnock, Bambos Charalambous, Marie Tidball, Simon Opher, Jake Richards, Rachel Hopkins, Lewis Atkinson, Kit Malthouse, Neil Shastri Hurst, Tom Gordon, Sarah Green and Liz Saville Roberts.
The MPs on the committee who voted no to the Bill are: Naz Shah, Juliet Campbell, Daniel Francis, Sojan Joseph, Jack Abbott, Sean Woodcock, Danny Kruger, Rebecca Paul and Sarah Olney.
