A MAJOR debate on legalising assisted dying could be delayed until the new year amid concerns that there is not enough time to scrutinise the complex law as well as the upcoming Budget document.
Deputies Inna Gardiner and Louise Doublet have written to Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham asking for a “mutually agreeable debate” to hold the historic debate and said they could use standing orders to push it back if one could not be found.
States Standing Order 72 outlines the process for referrals of draft laws to Scrutiny panels. They warned that this order could allow the Assembly to pause the debate until the scrutiny process is done but said they hoped to “avoid this Standing Order being invoked”.
In a letter co-signed by Scrutiny Liaison Committee chair Deputy Gardiner and Assisted Dying Review Panel chair Deputy Doublet, they said: “The Chair of the Assisted Dying Review Panel has been engaged in dialogue with the Minister for Health and Social Services about the timing of the Assisted Dying debate, and we would very much welcome that this dialogue is continued with a view to ensuring that the matter receives the duly rigorous scrutiny phase that such a sensitive, complex and impactful topic requires.
“By way of just one example, with the proposition only recently lodged the engagement of much needed expert advisors, and their ability to produce robust output with due time for it to be considered by all parties, stands to be severely compromised by the current timetable.”
With the 2026 Budget and the assisted dying law both due be debated by the Assembly before the end of the year, Deputies Gardiner and Doublet said that “adequate time must be factored in for the preparation and consideration of any amendments”.
Last week, the Council of Ministers lodged a proposition which sets out the framework for terminally ill adults living in Jersey to end their lives, who could be eligible, how the process would work and what checks would apply.
If it is adopted, Jersey would become just the second place in the British Isles to introduce such a law, after proposals to give terminally ill adults in the Isle of Man were agreed by the Manx parliament in March.
The service would be delivered by Health and Care Jersey, at an estimated cost of £2,657,084 between 2026 and 2029.
If approved, the draft law will require an 18-month implementation period, meaning the earliest the law could come into force in Jersey is mid-2027.
