A Conservative peer who was forced to leave a House of Lords debate on assisted dying early to avoid breaking Shabbat has said the legislation is too significant to only be debated on Fridays.
Last Friday, Lord Polak, honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel, apologised to fellow peers as he was obliged to leave Parliament and was unable to speak to his own proposed amendments to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
“I have three amendments coming up in the next group but one. I have to be in synagogue at 4.30 pm, so I will not be able to speak to them, sadly; I had short speeches on them, but I thought that, as a courtesy, I should let the Committee know that I will not be here to make them”, he told the chamber.
👎UNACCEPTABLE - Jewish peer Lord Polak explains that he won’t be able to speak to his amendments as he needs to go to the synagogue. It was quite wrong for Friday sittings to be extended in order to rush through the assisted suicide Bill, discriminating against Jewish peers. pic.twitter.com/eYWIwTbgVj
The bill is currently going through detailed scrutiny in the House of Lords, after it passed its third reading in the Commons in June.
Despite the fact that the prime minister supports measures in the bill, it is not government-sponsored legislation. The government maintains a neutral stance on it, and cabinet ministers such as Shabana Mahmood and Wes Streeting, the home and health secretaries respectively, voted against it.
The legislation was introduced to the Commons by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater as a Private Members’ Bill (PMB), which are allocated for debate on Fridays.
However, back in November, Polak cautioned that, because of early Shabbat times in winter, observant Jewish peers would be limited in their ability to intervene and contribute to parliamentary debate on the landmark legislation.
In an interview with the JC, he argued that legislation as seismic as the assisted dying bill shouldn’t be pushed through Parliament as PMBs.
“When the committee began [working on the assisted dying bill] seven weeks ago, as it’s a Private Members’ Bill, I said it would be a problem for Orthodox and observant peers because of Shabbat times in winter,” he said.
“I stood up [on Friday] and apologised because I had three amendments in and apologised to the House that I wouldn’t be able to speak to them.”
“A bill like the assisted dying bill is a massive piece of legislation that will have an effect on everyone in the country in some shape or form. This shouldn’t be a Private Members’ Bill. Things that are controversial shouldn’t be Private Members’ Bills.”
Jewish parliamentarians have expressed a variety of opinions on the legislation. Baroness Berger and Lord Carlile are strong opponents of it, while former Kindertransportee Lord Dubs and Labour MP Peter Prinsley are some of its strongest supporters.
As the legislation is a PMB and not a government-backed bill, if it is not passed by both Houses of Parliament by the end of this session of Parliament in May, it will not become legislation.
Last week, the prime minister was urged by Leadbeater to "respect the will of the democratically elected members of Parliament" amid concerns that the bill’s progress through the Lords is too slow to meet the deadline, with more than 1,000 amendments proposed by peers.
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