Minority Report: assisted dying bill

Whatever the majority view might be, we must hold to the truth, argues Malcolm Duncan as he discusses a proposed UK parliamentary bill on assisted dying.

We live in a culture where the majority rules.

There is strength in such a view for political stability, witnessed in the landslide victory of Labour in July’s General Election, and in its antithesis in the French elections of June and July.

But there is also danger in such a view – after all, Labour had a lower percentage of the general vote share this time around, but a much bigger number of seats, which led to their decisive victory.

Meanwhile, the French system gave the political far right a majority in their first round, which led to grave uncertainty in their national life until a rise collaboration in the centre and left of French politics for the second round of voting blocked the far right.

A majority voice is not always what it appears.

When it comes to this and moral choices, it is definitely a dangerous assumption to believe that the majority view is the right one.

Lord Falconer, who served as the Lord Chancellor from 2003-2007, introduced a Bill on assisted dying to the House of Lords this summer, which he hopes will be picked up by an MP and then given sufficient government debate time to become law.

The Bill would allow adults with a predicted six months to live to get medical help to end their own lives.

…story continues