Health Secretary warns controversial death law could mean cuts to cancer treatment and operations as battle moves to House of Lords
The Health Secretary has dropped a bombshell on MPs who’ve just voted to legalise assisted dying – warning it’ll raid precious NHS cash that should be spent on keeping people alive.
Wes Streeting, who led the charge against the suicide law that squeaked through Parliament by just 23 votes on Friday, didn’t pull his punches in a Facebook post that’s sent shockwaves through Westminster.
The minister warned that getting the controversial system up and running would siphon “time and money” away from life-saving treatments – at a time when the NHS is already on its knees.
His stark message? If we’re helping people die, there’ll be less money to help them live.
Gordon Brown’s Warning Rings True
Streeting threw his weight behind former PM Gordon Brown’s chilling warning about the slippery slope ahead. Quoting the ex-Labour leader, he said: “There is no effective freedom to choose if the alternative option, the freedom to draw on high-quality end-of-life care, is not available.”
Brown had warned that patients might “feel under pressure to relieve their relatives of the burden of caring for them” – a fear that’s haunted opponents of the Bill from day one.
“He is right,” Streeting declared bluntly. “The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money.”
The Health Secretary didn’t shy away from the uncomfortable reality of discussing “savings” in the context of ending lives. Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service – and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest – setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply.
No Budget, No Plan
Here’s the kicker: there’s literally no money set aside for this. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
There isn’t a budget for this,” Streeting wrote, in what amounts to a political hand grenade lobbed at MPs who voted for the Bill. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we’ve made the wrong one.”
The Government officially maintains it’s neutral on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which passed the Commons with a wafer-thin majority last Friday. But Streeting’s intervention makes it crystal clear where he stands – and he’s not alone.
Medical Experts Sound the Alarm
The Health Secretary cited a chorus of medical heavyweights who’ve raised red flags about the Bill, including:
- The Royal College of Psychiatrists
- The Royal College of Physicians
- The Association for Palliative Medicine
- Charities representing vulnerable groups
All have warned about the risks that come with opening this particular Pandora’s box.
Streeting promised his department would “continue to work constructively with Parliament to assist on technical aspects of the Bill” as it heads to the House of Lords. But make no mistake – this is about as enthusiastic as a vegetarian at a barbecue.
Dame Esther’s Plea to Peers
Meanwhile, assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen has begged the Lords not to torpedo the legislation that could be her last hope.
The 85-year-old broadcasting legend, who’s battling terminal cancer, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that peers should know their place: “I don’t need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber.”
“Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose,” she insisted. So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber.
Dame Esther, who turns 85 on Sunday, made a heartbreaking admission – the law probably won’t be ready in time for her. I might buzz off to Zurich,” she said, referring to the Swiss Dignitas clinic where Brits currently go to end their lives.
Lords Prepare for Battle
The Bill now faces what could be its toughest test yet in the House of Lords, where opposition is already mounting.
Paralympian and crossbench peer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson didn’t mince words when she spoke to BBC Breakfast: “We’re getting ready for it to come to the Lords and from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger.
Taking a swipe at supporters’ claims, she added: “We’ve been told it’s the strongest Bill in the world, but to be honest, it’s not a very high bar for other legislation.”
The Money Question Nobody Wants to Answer
Here’s what nobody’s talking about: if this goes ahead, where exactly is the money coming from?
With NHS waiting lists at record highs, A&E departments overwhelmed, and cancer patients facing agonising delays for treatment, Streeting’s warning cuts to the heart of an uncomfortable truth.
Every pound spent on setting up assisted dying infrastructure – the assessments, the safeguards, the legal processes, the drugs themselves – is a pound not spent on hip replacements, heart surgery, or chemotherapy.
What Happens Next?
The Bill’s journey is far from over. Having scraped through the Commons, it now faces months of scrutiny in the Lords, where peers have a reputation for picking legislation apart line by line.
If they make significant changes, it’ll ping-pong back to the Commons, eating up precious parliamentary time. And with no government backing or budget, the whole thing could collapse faster than a house of cards in a hurricane.
The Bottom Line
Wes Streeting has just thrown down the gauntlet. His message is clear: you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
If MPs want assisted dying, they need to explain which cancer patients won’t get treatment, which operations will be cancelled, and which A&E departments will close.
Because in the cold, hard world of NHS budgets, that’s the choice we’re facing. Help people die, or help them live.
As Streeting put it: Politics is about prioritising.” And right now, he’s made it crystal clear where his priorities lie – with the living, not the dying.
The battle lines are drawn. The Lords are preparing for war. And somewhere in the middle of it all are desperately ill people like Dame Esther, wondering if they’ll live long enough to see the outcome.
Welcome to British politics in 2024, where even death has become a political football.
Title: Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology attends the UK International Investment Summit at Guildhall
Author / Photographer: Alecsandra Dragoi / DSIT (Department for Science, Innovation & Technology)
Date & Location: 14 October 2024, 13:20, Guildhall, London, United Kingdom commons.wikimedia.org+4commons.wikimedia.org+4commons.wikimedia.org+4
Depicted: Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP (Secretary of State for Science, Innovation & Technology) hosting a panel discussion at the UK International Investment Summit alongside leaders such as Ruth Porat (Alphabet/Google), Margherita Della Valle (Vodafone), Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Enterprises), and Mamoon Hamid (Kleiner Perkins)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) — reuse allowed with attribution
Original Commons page: File:Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology attends the UK International Investment Summit at Guildhall (54069788335).jpg on Wikimedia Commons
