Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been accused of crossing a line by stating his opposition to the assisted dying Bill and making a “huge moral issue” instead about money.
Labour peer Baroness Harriet Harman is the latest senior party figure to push back on Mr Streeting’s public discussion about the Bill ahead of a debate and vote later this month.
He has confirmed he will be voting no to the proposed legislation, has asked his officials to carry out a cost analysis of any change and has suggested it could cost the NHS more if a new law was brought in.
Lady Harman said Mr Streeting had breached the Government’s neutral stance on the issue.
She told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast with Beth Rigby: “I think he’s crossed the line in two ways.
“Firstly, because he’s said that he’s going to vote against it. So he has said: ‘I’m saying this independently, although I’m the Secretary of State for Health, but I’m going to vote against it.’
“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal.”
Last month, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case said in a letter that while “ministers need not resile from previously stated views when directly asked about them, they should exercise discretion and should not take part in the public debate”.
I think above all, we should not be having this argument in respect of money. It should not come down to resources. It is a huge moral issue, and it is only a tiny number of people
Lady Harman also took issue with Mr Streeting’s arguments around the potential financial impact of an assisted dying service on the NHS.
He has suggested there may need to be cuts to other NHS services if the changes are brought in, but also said there was a “chilling slippery slope argument” if people felt compelled to end their own lives as a cost-saving measure.
Lady Harman said: “It can’t be doing both things. It can’t be both costing the NHS money and saving the NHS money.
“But I think above all, we should not be having this argument in respect of money. It should not come down to resources. It is a huge moral issue, and it is only a tiny number of people.”
Her criticisms follow others from former minister Baroness Margaret Hodge, who told the BBC’s Politics Live: “I’m a great Wes Streeting fan but I think on this issue he should do what the Cabinet Secretary said and just hold fire a little bit.”
The peer, who is in favour of assisted dying, added: “To argue that this is going to cost extra – I mean I haven’t done the arithmetic on it – sounds to me a bit daft.”
Mr Streeting previously said he had not intended to “wade into” the debate and had only given his view when asked the question at a private meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
But, speaking this week after a speech to the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool, he said there were “choices and trade-offs”, adding “any new service comes at the expense of other competing pressures and priorities”.
He added: “Now that doesn’t mean people should vote against it on that basis.
“People need to weigh up this choice in the way that we’re weighing up all these other choices at the moment.”
Downing Street would not be drawn into saying whether Mr Streeting was right to say a new assisted dying law could come at the expense of other NHS services.
The Prime Minister also sidestepped a question on whether the Health Secretary was speaking out of turn, instead repeating that the Government’s position is neutral and that there will be a free vote on whether to take the Bill forward.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “I think everyone has to look at the Bill and decide for themselves which way they want to vote.
“There are very, very strongly held views which I respect on both sides of the argument, but that is why we will be neutral in this.
Each individual MP will decide for themselves which way they want to vote
“Each individual MP will decide for themselves which way they want to vote.”
Sir Keir, who has previously supported assisted dying, has declined to state his views on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, pledging earlier this week to study the details of the proposals ahead of a vote.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who has put forward what she described as the “most robust” proposed legislation on this matter in the world, voiced her disappointment and upset at Mr Streeting’s comments, also suggesting he was in breach of instructions from the Cabinet Secretary.
Meanwhile Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall confirmed she would be supporting a change in the law, saying: “Yes, I will be voting for the Bill.”
Elsewhere in the Cabinet, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has previously stated she will vote in favour of the Bill, while Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said she will not support it.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves declined to give her view when asked on Friday which way she will vote on November 29, saying she will be “looking at all the evidence ahead of the vote in Parliament”.
Meanwhile on Friday, Catholic Bishops warned that compassion is “under threat” from assisted dying which they fear could lead to people feeling “pressured” into ending their lives.
A statement from the Catholic Bishops of England, Wales and Scotland urged people “of reason and good will” to join them in defending “the weakest and most vulnerable” who they say are at risk from proposed new legislation.
