The Guardian view on assisted dying: MPs ought to consider the issue | Editorial

A citizens’ jury looked at whether the law should be changed and came out for reform. Whether that would mesh with parliament is an open question



At the heart of a democracy is the idea that the public is capable of making reflective judgments on issues of concern. Yet in a parliamentary system, there are few opportunities for practising a politics of deliberation. Voters elect MPs to do that for them. With many of the recent social reforms – legalising same-sex marriages or introducing no-fault divorce – public opinion has run ahead of political action.

This situation is mirrored with assisted dying. Polls suggest 75% of the public back changing the law to let someone with a terminal condition have an assisted death. The question is whether once voters had been given a chance to learn about the issue in more depth they might take a different view. Recent evidence suggests they would not. When the Nuffield Council assembled a citizens’ jury in England to look at the issue, in an eight-week long deliberative process, 70% of participants supported a change in the law for terminally ill, mentally competent people.

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