Assisted dying bill delay 'can't be coincidence'

A delay to the assisted dying bill being granted Royal Assent, cannot be a coincidence with slow progress made on similar moves in England, the bill's author has said.

Legislation to allow terminally ill Manx residents the right to die, completed its passage through Tynwald in March last year, but has not yet received Royal Assent.

It comes as a similar bill was backed by MPs in England in June, but has made slow progress in the House of Lords due to a huge number of amendments tabled.

Author of the Isle of Man's private members bill Alex Allinson said: "It can't be a coincidence that at the moment Westminster have their own bill, Kim Leadbeater's bill, which is currently stalling."

Once a bill passes all stages in the Manx parliament, a bill is sent to the UK's Ministry of Justice, which looks at it and makes sure it does not interfere with the constitutional relationship between the island and UK.

This is usually completed with Royal Assent being granted between three to six months later.

Eleven months later, the Ramsey MHK said he did not know "why it's taken so long for all assent to be granted".

He said: "It's unusual to have this amount of space in between it being passed by Tynwald and a decision being made."

And he has written to the Lord Chancellor David Lammy, "to ask him that very question".

He also offered to travel to London "to see if there is any way of reassuring them that what we have is actually a really good bit of legislation, which meets the needs of our people on the Isle of Man without interfering with any of the moves in the United Kingdom".

It was "important to stress our close links with the United Kingdom, but also our constitutional relationship as an independent nation", Allinson continued.

"With our own parliament, we pass our own laws and we, as parliamentarians, are responsible for that," he added.

In the letter to Lammy, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, Allinson said he would be "happy" to clarify or reassure the Lord Chancellor over "any outstanding issues".

Once Royal Assent is granted, Allinson said "a lot of detailed work" can begin to bring legislation "into action on our island".

It would take about 18 months to two years before the law was enacted due to the large amount of implementation planning.

Allinson said it was important to him that Royal Assent was granted before the end of the island's current administration, with the next general election to take place in September.

"I would absolutely like to see us delivering on the promise we made to people on the island that we would provide that choice for them in the future," he said.

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