Assisted Dying and News from the Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce |
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Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick
November 29, 2024 This week there was more public evidence sessions for the Justice Select Committee, this time with the Lady Chief Justice to hear about the state of our courts and the problems with the backlog. We had a very important debate in the House on Friday for the second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and you can read my speech here. Many of my constituents will know that I have been a supporter of the campaign for assisted dying for many years and I am pleased to see Kim Leadbeater bring forward her Private Member’s Bill which passed second reading and will move to Committee stage. I know many people are concerned about the Bill and what it will mean for those people who are terminally ill, but the law as it currently stands now is intolerable. Allowing this Bill to pass second reading doesn’t mean that it will immediately come into law. Next comes the line by line scrutiny at Committee stage which is important to get into the detail and make sure the Bill does exactly what we need it to do. More news on the Hammersmith Bridge taskforce – we have agreed another meeting for January, and it feels great to finally have some movement on the issue with Ministers listening to concerns of local MP’s. Last week I attended the re-opening of the refurbished Nationwide Building Society’s Shepherd's Bush Green branch. With so many banks and building societies closing their local branches, it is very positive to see that Nationwide is still committed to having that important local presence. They have promised that every existing branch of Nationwide will remain open until at least the start of 2028, and include Shepherds Bush, Chiswick and Hammersmith branches as part of this promise. This Thursday I visited West London Free School to talk to year 12 politics students. In recent years this has become a yearly appearance at the guest speaker programme and I always thoroughly enjoy my time there. Best wishes, Andy andy@andyslaughter.com
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