Assistance Required

The following Early Day Motion has been tabled by Ann Widdecombe, Jim Clark and Jim Dobbin:

This House notes the tragic case of Lynn Gilderdale and the fact that her mother, Kay, was charged with assisted suicide for helping to end her life; notes that 110 people have been flown to Switzerland for the purpose of assisted suicide and not one person accompanying them has had to face being charged in court because Mr Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecution, decided against it on the grounds that it would have been against the public interest; notes, however, that although the situation of Lynn and her mother, Kay Gilderdale, was more stressful and tragic than most of the cases where people were flown to Switzerland, he decided to bring charges against Mrs Gilderdale – a decision questioned by the Judge and many commentators; notes, however. that his decision was made shortly after the publication of his Guidelines on Assisted Suicide which have been heavily criticised by senior members of the legal profession, parliamentarians and public commentators on the grounds that they jeopardise the right to life of the vulnerable sick and disabled; notes also that the case has been used as a showpiece to promote the legalisation of assisted suicide and the DPPs Assisted Suicide Guidelines and calls on the Government to require from Mr Starmer on what grounds he decided to pursue Mrs Gilderdale whose case accords with all the conditions he lists in his Guidelines as justifiable reasons for not bringing a prosecution.

This case met all of Keir Starmer's criteria for an assisted suicide such as he believes should be legal, and he has never brought a prosecution for assisted suicide under the Suicide Act 1961, which would have been appropriate here.

It could not be clearer that the Crown Prosecution Service should be abolished, and that all rulings of the new "Supreme Court" should be made subject to ratification by resolution of the House of Commons, without which such rulings would have no effect. There is also a strong case for once again requiring its judges to sit in the House of Lords; as much as anything else, much good work was quietly done by their Peers, especially bishops, in having injustices called in for review.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is nothing other than the High Court of Parliament. But instead, we now have Starmer and his mates on the Bench making up the law to suit themselves.