Westminster must ‘avoid treading on Cardiff Bay’s toes over assisted dying’

Westminster must avoid treading on Cardiff Bay’s toes over assisted dying, a Welsh peer has said, as the Senedd welcomes its new cohort next year.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson warned that as figures in charge of the Welsh Government change, negotiations between civil servants on both sides of the border “might be starting completely from scratch”.

Peers began their line-by-line scrutiny of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday.

The proposal to introduce assisted dying covers England and Wales, and Welsh ministers would be able to regulate it in the devolved health services.

Plaid Cymru peer Baroness Carmen Smith of Llanfaes warned that the Bill could set up a “two-tiered system” for assisted dying, “where people in England can decide, while people in Wales are not granted that choice”.

And Lady Grey-Thompson said there was a “lack of understanding on devolution”.

The former Paralympian told the Lords: “We have to be very careful about what Westminster decides is or isn’t a Welsh matter.

“We could damage relationships by (being seen) to tread toes of what’s happening in Wales.”

Lady Grey-Thompson, who is a crossbencher, also said: “We do not know what the next Senedd is going to look like.

“We might have some very sensible negotiations or we might be starting completely from scratch, but we have to be really careful of not stepping on the toes of the Senedd and the members.”

Members of the Senedd have previously debated assisted dying.

They rejected a cross-party motion to support the principle by 26 votes to 19, majority seven, in October last year.

A Senedd election is due in 2026.

Lady Smith said that “by removing Wales from this Bill” to navigate the devolution settlements, lawmakers could leave Welsh terminally ill patients “in limbo”.

She later added: “We must respect and protect the role of devolved parliaments in matters that are clearly within their responsibility.”

Lady Smith also said: “I would also like to remind this House that there is a Senedd election next year and, therefore, that it is most likely that the Welsh Government that would be implementing such a Bill would be new.”

It is “important” for peers “not to take the previous vote as the say of the Senedd” but instead to “ensure that the Senedd has a proper say and is able to legislate for the people of Wales”, she added.

Health policy is devolved to Cardiff Bay, but crime and justice are “reserved” for London-based lawmakers.

Conservative former cabinet minister, Lord Mark Harper, said changes to the Suicide Act 1961 as part of the Bill makes it “effectively a criminal justice matter”.

Lord Harper, who was the Forest of Dean MP in Gloucestershire, near the Welsh border, added: “It would have been much better if the UK Government had had some sensible conversations at the beginning of this process with the Welsh Government and had come to an agreement about how this was going to be dealt with.”

He warned peers were debating a “very uncomfortable halfway house”.

He also warned that the Bill failed to adequately “distinguish between whether you’re resident in England and Wales”.

Lord Harper continued: “So, the concern is this: if the health service in England delivers the service in a particular way, but Welsh ministers decide to deliver the service in a different way, with different checks and balances and with different professionals delivering that service, it’s not clear in the Bill whether if you live in England but you’re registered with a GP practice in Wales whether you would be entitled to the English provisions or the Welsh ones.”

Health minister Baroness Merron said: “UK Government officials have, as would be expected, discussed these matters with Welsh Government officials, and the management of the legislative consent process in the Senedd is, of course, a matter for the Welsh Government.”

Peers are in the process of debating more than 940 tabled amendments to the assisted dying Bill, and finished discussing the first seven on Friday.

The Bill has already cleared the Commons but faces further scrutiny in the Lords before it can become law, with the next debate due on Friday November 21.