Keir Starmer has dismissed warnings that the proposed legalisation on assisted dying is being rushed.
The Prime Minister insisted that plenty of time had been devoted to the controversial plan despite dozens of his MPs pleading for it to receive more scrutiny.
He also indicated that he will back the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the knife-edge vote tomorrow.
But he said he would not try to sway opinion as the Government has remained officially neutral – though he previously promised leading campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen he would make time for assisted dying to come to the Commons.
Asked during the G7 summit if he will be voting for the Bill, the PM replied: ‘I’ve done my best not to influence the vote.
‘My own view, I think, is well known and long-standing.’
When pressed as to whether the critics within his party were wrong to raise concerns about the process, Sir Keir replied: ‘It is a matter for individual parliamentarians.
‘There has been a lot of time discussing it, both in Parliament and beyond Parliament, and quite right too, it’s a really serious issue.’
A majority of 55 voted in favour the Bill last year, meaning that 28 would need to switch sides to bring it down, and at least a dozen have publicly turned against it in recent weeks.
Even MPs sympathetic to the principle of legalising assisted dying plan to vote against it due to the actions of Labour’s Kim Leadbeater.
Since the bill passed its first Parliamentary hurdle in November, she has introduced a series of changes, including removing the safeguard of a High Court judge signing off applications.
She instead put forward the concept of a panel of experts who would consider requests.
Yet many professionals claim her plan is unworkable and more than 1,000 doctors have urged MPs to reject it.
Some 50-plus Labour MPs want the third reading vote be delayed, warning the final version of the Bill has not been published and only 12 of 133 proposed amendments have been voted on.
