Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins discusses why she voted in favour of continuing the debate on the assisted dying bill, stressing the importance of addressing her constituents' concerns before making a final decision.
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00:00I thought very carefully about this, I mean I was reading the day before, I was
00:04reading all of the correspondence from my constituents and of course
00:08I've had many conversations with my constituents over the years about this
00:12issue and I wanted to hear some of the debate before I came to a conclusion.
00:17I've decided because there is such a public will for this debate to continue
00:24that I wanted to allow the debate to continue in Parliament. That does not
00:28mean that my vote is you know determined for third reading which is
00:33the final stage of the bill before it goes the Lords and I will very much want
00:37some of the questions that my constituents have asked of this bill to
00:42be answered. Well as the former Health Secretary I was surprised that the
00:46current Health Secretary set out his views so strongly in the media because I
00:51was very conscious as the Health Secretary that it would be my
00:54responsibility to either maintain the status quo or to effect change if that
00:58is what Parliament decides must happen. So I think he's going to have to win the
01:03trust of many many people across the country and in Parliament if the vote
01:08continues to proceed through its stages and if the bill is passed.