In this fourth instalment of our special mini-podcast series, we take you inside the Public Bill Committee as it scrutinises the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - a landmark proposal seeking to legalise assisted dying. The Committee is in full swing, debating amendments, and tensions are running high. We sit down with Sarah Olney MP, a key player in the discussions, to unpack the latest developments.
Sarah shares insights into her proposed amendments, the growing frustration with the legislative process, and concerns over the role of Ministers when the Government says it is neutral.
The atmosphere in the Committee has taken a combative turn, with MPs digging in on both sides of the debate. As the bill progresses slowly, controversy is brewing over judicial oversight, particularly a proposal to replace High Court judges with an expert panel - an amendment that could significantly sway support for the bill.
Olney also discusses her push for a new "test of ability" rather than "test of capacity," aiming to better safeguard vulnerable individuals. Meanwhile, questions are mounting about whether the Private Members' Bill process is the right mechanism for handling such a complex legal and ethical issue.
With so much still undecided and political divisions deepening, the bill's future hangs in the balance. Is this process up to the task, or is it exposing fundamental flaws in how Parliament legislates and its capacity to make law in this area?
Sarah Olney MP
Sarah is the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park in south west London and a member of the public bill committee currently examining the assisted dying bill. She was first elected in a by-election in 2016, lost her seat in the 2017 general election, but won the seat back in 2019 and was re-elected again in 2024. Before becoming an MP, she was an accountant and since 2024 she has served on the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons, scrutinising Government spending.
Hansard Society
Parliament
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Bill documents
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[00:00:00] Intro: You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk.
[00:00:16] Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox.
[00:00:23] Mark D'Arcy: And I'm Mark D'Arcy. And welcome to the fourth of our special dedicated mini pods, tracing events on the consideration in the Commons of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the bill that will enable assisted dying.
[00:00:37] The Public Bill Committee, looking at the detail of the bill, is now in session, working through amendments, and we're going to be talking to Sarah Olney, a Lib Dem MP who's been particularly active this week putting down amendments. We've asked her what her amendments were, how they fared, and and also asked her to comment on the wider conduct of the Public Bill Committee, how things are going, how long it's going to take.
[00:01:04] Well, we're delighted to be joined by Sarah Olney, who's been one of the active members of the Public Bill Committee. And Sarah, first of all, my impression is that things are curdled a bit on the Public Bill Committee, that what may have started out as an attempt to get the mechanism right is turning into something a bit more entrenched and adversarial than perhaps people had expected.
[00:01:26] Sarah Olney MP: Hello, Mark. Yeah, well, I think that's right, actually, and it certainly has taken me a little bit by surprise. I mean, I guess my expectation was it's an issue that cuts across party lines, so while there might have been a little bit of lining up on either side of the argument, at the end of the day, it's different people from different parties. So that our party loyalty is always very strong in Parliament and certainly within the Liberal Democrats, there's a range of views. But for me personally, my colleagues on the bill committee, both of who voted yes at Second Reading, whereas I voted no. We are still very much colleagues and it's not an adversarial atmosphere between us. And I guess I kind of expected that with the other parties as well, but it has been much more adversarial than I was expecting and people very much lining up on, on either side of the argument. And I think just the voting pattern, we've not had many votes so far because we haven't made much progress, but even the votes that we have had, you can see it's a fairly fixed voting position so far. I think that might change. I think there will be other issues that come up later in the bill committee where some people will potentially switch, but currently it does seem to be quite entrenched, but also, I don't know, it is a bit more aggressive than I was expecting.
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The assisted dying bill (Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill) is now at the Committee stage, where a Public Bill Committee reviews the bill clause by clause. This briefing outlines the Committee’s role, how MPs propose changes to the bill and where these are published, how the Chair selects and groups amendments, and how these are debated and voted on.
The assisted dying bill is about to undergo detailed scrutiny by the Public Bill Committee - a group of 23 MPs tasked with reviewing the Bill’s text and proposing amendments to refine and improve it. But what exactly happens during this amendment process? Former House of Commons Clerk, Paul Evans CBE, breaks it down. Plus, we hear from Dr Ben Spencer MP, a former consultant psychiatrist turned parliamentarian, who has proposed dozens of amendments to the Bill.
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As MPs prepare to consider the detail of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - known as the assisted dying bill - this briefing highlights concerns about two clauses granting delegated powers to Ministers. These clauses address substances approved for assisted dying and its provision through the health service. It also examines the absence of a Delegated Powers Memorandum and its impact on effective scrutiny of the Bill.
