As I look ahead, if I was to pick two significant future challenges, they would be start-of-life law change and end-of-life law change. It is not implausible that there could, within months, be major votes at Westminster on legalising both assisted suicide and also the ‘decriminalisation of abortion’.
In March, the Home Secretary introduced a Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in the House of Commons. It is a Government Bill and so will be given plenty of time for debate and will be considered a priority. It’s also what is called a ‘Christmas Tree Bill’.
Wide scope
What that means is that is it a very broad Bill, with a wide scope. For example, if passed, it will lead to tougher sentences for child sex offenders. It will give the police more powers to tackle protests that prevent businesses from carrying out their work. The age of retirement for judges will be raised to 75, and there is a whole host of other measures, too.
Palliative care is the way forward, not assisted suicide
The assisted suicide bill at Westminster is now highly likely to fall after the government refused to give it any …