Member

Fourthly and finally, there is the question of the relationship with the existing statute book. There are two angles to this. First is the use of the word “suicide”, which this Bill carefully avoids, except in the sole context of the necessary amendments to the Suicide Act 1961; that is Clause 32. It has been said before, but it bears repeating, that the fact that an amendment to that Act is necessary is surely the clearest evidence that this Bill provides for a means of committing suicide and, therefore, it is appropriate to use that term more generally in the Bill. Of course, Clause 32 attempts to sidestep this problem by distinguishing “suicide” from “assistance” in its proposed amendment to the Suicide Act, and thus introduces the ambiguity that, as I have noted, we should be seeking to avoid. In fact, all that is needed to do what the drafters want is to exclude from the Suicide Act any functions performed under this Bill if it were to become law. That would be the clearest and simplest approach.