Clause 46
Coroners and Justice Bill
Public Bill Committees, 3 March 2009, 4:00 pm
Edward Garnier (Shadow Minister, Justice; Harborough, Conservative)
Once again, I make my formal complaint that such a huge issue has been spatchcocked into the Bill. If we are to do the subject justice, it should be treated in a separate Bill amending, if necessary, the Suicide Act 1961. However, as I may have said before, we are where we are, and we have to do the best we can, albeit with a very unsatisfactory process for dealing with a highly sensitive and legally complicated subject.
Clause 46 deals with encouraging or assisting suicide in the jurisdiction of England and Wales, and it is fair to say that clause 47 produces a similar regime for Northern Ireland. Clause 48 deals with information society services, the bulk of which are dealt with by schedule 10.