'Compassionate thing to do': Palliative Care Minister Kinnock will vote to legalise assisted dying

"I think that assisted dying is the right thing to do from the point of view of compassion", Kinnock told ITV News' Paul Brand

The minister for palliative care Stephen Kinnock has told ITV News that he will vote for the assisted dying bill, in contrast to his boss the Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Mr Kinnock, who sits beneath Mr Streeting at the Department for Health and Social Care, said he did not believe there was a conflict between assisted dying and hospice care.

He told ITV News: "I will be voting for the bill on November 29.

"I don't think it's an either or question on hospices and palliative care but evidence shows that often countries and places that go with assisted dying actually see improvements in palliative care coming from that."

The Health Secretary has expressed a different view, saying that he worries about the impact on hospice care if assisted dying is legalised.

Last week he ordered his department to calculate the costs of the bill, warning that it could divert money from other NHS services.

Mr Kinnock wouldn't be drawn on whether his boss was wrong to do so.

He said: "You're asking me a direct question about my view, I'm giving that to you. I think that assisted dying is the right thing to do from the point of view of compassion.

"Hundreds of people a year are taking matters into their own hands in uncontrolled environments.

"It's not safe, it's not compassionate and I think it's also right that people should have the choice to die a good death in the warm embrace of the people that they love."

MPs will vote on the assisted dying bill on November 29.

There have been a flurry of ministers declaring their views in recent days, after Downing Street said Mr Streeting had not broken the rules by expressing his opinion.

MPs are free to vote any way they like on the bill, but ministers had previously been warned by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case not to "take part in the public debate" on the matter.

This morning, Home Office Minister Diana Johnson also said that she would vote for the bill.

Last week, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said that she would too, while Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said yesterday that she would vote against.

Supporters of assisted dying have been encouraging ministers to come out and publicly back the measure, fearing that Wes Streeting's comments had reversed earlier momentum in favour of changing the law.

In March, the Prime Minister Keir Starmer told ITV News that he was personally supportive of assisted dying.

Since then, he has refused to be drawn on which way he'll vote on the specific bill drafted by Kim Leadbeater MP, but is expected to back it.

Labour MPs who've publicly declared their view are currently in favour of a change in the law by 2 to 1.

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