Latest news with #SirEdwardLeigh
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
NHS health professionals fear palliative care after Harold Shipman murders
An MP has claimed that health care professionals in the NHS are cautious about administering palliative care following the Harold Shipman murders. Speaking during the assisted dying bill debate in the House of Commons on Friday (20 June), Sir Edward Leigh urged his fellow MPs to take a 'pause' and ask the Health Department on 'whether it is possible to have decent palliative care'. 'There's no doubt that in recent years, particularly since Shipman, there has been a fear amongst many health professionals in the NHS about providing that degree of hugely effective modern drugs,' he said. Shipman was an English doctor who murdered about 250 of his patients between the 1970s and 1990s, who died when he injected many of them with lethal doses of diamorphine.
The Independent
17-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Abortion decriminalised in the UK after historic vote
MPs in England and Wales voted 379 to 137 to decriminalise abortion, marking a significant shift in reproductive rights. The reform aims to protect women from investigation, arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment related to their own pregnancies, while maintaining penalties for abusive partners or medical professionals. The vote follows arguments that the UK 's existing abortion law was outdated and increasingly used against vulnerable women, with concerns raised about cases of women being investigated even after miscarriages. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi highlighted that police had investigated over 100 women for suspected illegal abortions in the past five years, describing such cases as a "travesty". While Labour MP Lizzi Collinge argued the change would protect women from "brutal investigations", Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh and DUP MP Carla Lockhart opposed the reforms, raising concerns about sex-selective abortion and the rights of unborn children.
Telegraph
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Full-term abortion ‘to become legal' under change planned by MPs
Women will be able to abort their pregnancies for any reason at any point up to birth without facing prosecution under law changes to be considered by MPs on Tuesday, according to a legal opinion. In the biggest proposed changes to the abortion law for nearly 50 years, two rival amendments would enable women to terminate their pregnancy on the basis of the sex of the foetus without the risk of prosecution, the legal opinion claimed. But while both amendments would decriminalise abortion for women, one would retain criminal prosecutions for doctors who facilitated late abortions in such circumstances. The second would only see medics face disciplinary sanctions by making the 1967 Abortion Act 'obsolete,' according to the legal assessment. The opinion, by Stephen Rose KC, a leading criminal barrister, was commissioned by Sir Edward Leigh, the Father of the House, who has previously voted against moves to liberalise abortion laws. On Tuesday MPs will debate the amendments to the Government's Crime and Policing Bill. MPs will be given a free vote on the basis that abortion is a matter of conscience. Six women have been prosecuted in the past three years for ending or attempting to end their own pregnancies outside abortion law, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The first proposal put forward by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi would amend the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act – which outlaws abortion – so that it would no longer apply to women ending their own pregnancies. It would not affect the 1967 Act which allows abortions after 24 weeks, agreed by two doctors and where there is a risk to the woman's physical or mental health, or of the child being born with severe abnormalities. A second amendment, known as NC20, proposed by Labour MP Stella Creasy would repeal the sections of the 1861 Act prohibiting abortion and defining the offence of concealing the birth of a child. Ms Creasy would also amend the Abortion Act of 1967 to create a 'human rights framework ' to ensure women had safe access to abortion rights and to maintain the 24-week time limit for a termination. Carry out own abortion In his legal opinion, Mr Rose said Ms Antoniazzi's amendment would mean that it would no longer be illegal for a woman to carry out her own abortion 'at home, for any reason, at any gestation, up to birth' but would still retain criminal prosecution for a medical professional who assisted in a late termination. However, he said Ms Creasy's amendment would go further in rendering the 24-week time limit 'obsolete' in respect of the prosecution of women who undertook terminations 'in typical circumstances'. He suggested it would create a 'a hybrid situation characterised by uncertainty'. 'While the registered medical practitioner would no longer face prosecution for the repealed offences, it seems they may face professional discipline,' he added. 'It is foreseeable that this amendment might contribute to an increase in the incidence of medical termination after the 24-week period.' In his legal opinion on Ms Antoniazzi's amendment, Mr Rose said it ' would not be illegal for a woman to carry out her own abortion at home, solely on the basis that the foetus is female'. However, it would remain illegal for a doctor to assist. On Ms Creasy's amendment, he said: 'The effect of the amendment is that a woman who terminated her pregnancy solely on the basis that she believed the child to be female would face no criminal sanction in connection with that reason, or at all.' Only one amendment may be allowed Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, will have to decide whether the amendments can be debated and subject to votes on Tuesday. Ms Antoniazzi's amendment has the support of more than 180 MPs, while Ms Creasy has the backing of more than 100. It is thought Sir Lindsay may only allow one vote on the issue. More than 70 per cent of MPs agree that women should not be liable for prison sentences if they have abortions outside the set rules, according to a YouGov poll of 100 MPs. There is, however, strong public opposition to changing the abortion time limits with only three per cent backing extending it to birth. A third amendment proposes a law change to ban the unsupervised use of abortion 'pills by post' to prevent women being coerced into terminations. Nearly 30 MPs including former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith are backing an amendment which would crack down on the pills-by-post scheme to prevent it being abused by coercive partners or result in mistaken terminations. Catherine Robinson, of Right to Life UK, said: 'The abortion lobby is pushing to decriminalise abortion to cover up the disastrous effects of its irresponsible pills-by-post scheme, which endangers women by removing the requirement for in-person consultations to reliably verify a woman's gestational age and assess any health risks, or the risk of coercion, before abortion pills may be prescribed.'
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: Lowe – 'Farage is leading a cult, I might start my own party'
As the row inside Reform rumbles on, Camilla speaks to the man behind the headlines: Rupert Lowe. In the wake of his blistering attack on his former ally Nigel Farage, Lowe tells The Daily T the Reform leader is 'running a cult' and a 'narcissist'. He also says he might start a new party to the right of Reform, calling for 'a satisfactory alternative' that is 'more than just a mobile PR machine'. Elsewhere, we also bring you part two of The Daily T's interview with veteran Tory MP and father of the house Sir Edward Leigh, who's leading the charge against Kim Leadbeater's Assisted Dying (Terminally Ill Adults) Bill. MPs will debate and vote on amendments to the bill on Friday, which would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales if it's passed later this summer. Sir Edward explains why he has joined forces with Labour grandee Diane Abbott in an attempt to halt the Bill's progress.
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Conservatives made 'catastrophic error' on immigration, MP says
The Conservatives must be as "robust" as Reform UK on immigration, a senior Tory MP has Edward Leigh, the long-serving MP for Gainsborough, described last week's local election results as "catastrophic" for his Dame Andrea Jenkyns became the first mayor of Greater Lincolnshire following the vote on 1 May, while the party also took control of Lincolnshire County Council from the when asked if he would consider joining Reform, Sir Edward said that although he agreed with "most, if not all" of their policies, he would not be swapping parties. In an appearance on The Hot Seat, on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, Sir Edward said he had spoken to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to ask for stronger policies on illegal immigration. He said his party had failed in its pledge to prevent migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats and described it as a "catastrophic error". Sir Edward said: "You've got to say that if you try and enter this country illegally, then you've got to be arrested and deported."We've got to have as tough a line as Reform."He also expressed concerns about the extent of legal migration allowed when the Conservatives were in government."We felt to keep the NHS going we had to allow all these quite low-paid care workers to come in from all over the world, so there was a reason for it," he said."But of course it got totally out of control." 'We're being punished' Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed net migration – the number of people coming to the UK, minus the number leaving – reached a record high of 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023, then fell to 728,000 in the year to June to the figures, about 8% of migrants who were non-EU nationals claimed asylum in the 12 months to June 2024.. Sir Edward added: "We did it, we are now being blamed, we are being punished, quite rightly in my view." Following her election victory, Dame Andrea called for migrants to be housed in tents instead of while Sir Edward said his party needed to be tougher on immigration, he said: "I don't think the answer is putting them in tents."I've got nothing against any migrant. These are desperate people, poor people, impoverished people, suffering under horrible regimes."The Conservatives have proposed measures including the introduction of an annual cap on migration and doubling the residency requirement for indefinite leave to remain in the UK from five to 10 party also wants to "disapply" the Human Rights Act from immigration-related matters, to prevent people challenging deportations in court. 'Fear of change' Speaking about the NHS, Sir Edward said he favoured the French healthcare system of social insurance – a system that reimburses a significant portion of healthcare costs. He said leading politicians were "terrified" of changing the way the NHS was funded and called for an open debate. Reform has said it would boost private healthcare and insurance by bringing in 20% tax relief for the sector. It claimed this would relieve pressure on the NHS, provide competition and reduce on BBC Question Time in May last year, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the NHS was not working any more and required a fundamental rethink of funding and when asked by presenter Sean Dunderdale why he would not be joining Farage, Sir Edward – who holds the honorary title of father of the House of Commons – said he wanted to persuade the Conservatives to move in his direction."I believe that I should stay in the Conservative party, be loyal to the people who have voted for me in 11 general elections, and persuade the party to my point of view," he said."I am persuading them and we are moving the direction that people want to move on issues such as immigration, so I'm going to stay a Conservative."The government is due to release a white paper setting out its plans to reduce migration in the coming Conservative party has been contacted for comment. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
