HebrideanUltraTerfHecate on Nostr: ...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/24/assisted-dying-debate-data-starmer-streeting-mismanaged/
At its simplest, a private members bill (PMB) is the wrong route to a change of such significance. That Keir Starmer has allowed it cements his reputation for being very poor at politics (a rather disturbing weakness for the Prime Minister of the country). His pledge to Esther Ranzen before the election that he would make time for a debate and vote on the issue should never have been via such a thin mechanism. First it leaves it to campaigners for and against to make the case, and to one individual (in this instance someone without a long track record in the subject) to be the face of the pro lobby. The debate by design becomes binary – with the whiff of the amateur – when it should be nuanced, drawing on the expertise of the professional, such as those with deep knowledge of hospice care. MPs are left scrabbling with Google to find out as much as they can. Before the election Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said he wanted to throw open his department so that politicians and all concerned parties could see the evidence. Nothing of such substance has happened. Second, PMBs are a very poor way to legislate. MPs will be given just five hours to debate such a momentous change on Parliament’s most desolate day – Friday – when minds are already turning to the weekend and the scrutiny of the news cycle is waning.
https://archive.ph/1pA1l
At its simplest, a private members bill (PMB) is the wrong route to a change of such significance. That Keir Starmer has allowed it cements his reputation for being very poor at politics (a rather disturbing weakness for the Prime Minister of the country). His pledge to Esther Ranzen before the election that he would make time for a debate and vote on the issue should never have been via such a thin mechanism. First it leaves it to campaigners for and against to make the case, and to one individual (in this instance someone without a long track record in the subject) to be the face of the pro lobby. The debate by design becomes binary – with the whiff of the amateur – when it should be nuanced, drawing on the expertise of the professional, such as those with deep knowledge of hospice care. MPs are left scrabbling with Google to find out as much as they can. Before the election Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said he wanted to throw open his department so that politicians and all concerned parties could see the evidence. Nothing of such substance has happened. Second, PMBs are a very poor way to legislate. MPs will be given just five hours to debate such a momentous change on Parliament’s most desolate day – Friday – when minds are already turning to the weekend and the scrutiny of the news cycle is waning.
https://archive.ph/1pA1l