By Isle of Wight Observer
Dear Editor,
Paul Martin, Island representative for Dignity in Dying, will be pleased that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has passed its second reading in the House of Commons and by a wider than expected margin (Vectis View, November 29), but less so that the Island’s two MPs, Richard Quigley and Joe Robertson, both voted against. However, he is mistaken in his view that by voting that way they do not support real democracy as 70 per cent of the population want a change to the law.
In this country, we have a parliamentary democracy in which MPs are representatives sent to parliament to vote with their consciences, not delegates bound by their constituents’ wishes. There is much work to be done before the bill becomes law and I have no doubt that both MPs will continue to represent all their constituents, whether they voted for them or not, and wherever they stand in the debate on dignity in dying, in the best way in which they think they are able.
They can, of course, be voted out at the next general election.
Malcolm Watson, Ryde