A source close to Leadbeater compared the selection process to “three-dimensional chess” – juggling different opinions, party balance and MPs’ schedules. They added they had tried to achieve a range of gender and ethnic representation.
Key figures from both sides of the debate are on the committee, including Tory MP Danny Kruger who is a vocal opponent of assisted dying and his Conservative colleague Kit Malthouse – who campaigned alongside Leadbeater for the bill.
Marie Tidball, the Labour MP and former director and of the Oxford University disability law and policy project, is one of several MPs who say they voted in favour at last month’s initial stage but want changes before giving final approval.
These hesitant MPs could hold the keys to pushing the bill through a split committee and shaping the bill before it returns to the House of Commons.
Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville-Roberts said she would reconsider her support if the bill were not made more robust.
She told the Commons last month the bill needed “sufficient scrutiny to stitch together a complete garment out of what is presently threads and patches” that could be challenged in court.
Conservative MP Rebecca Paul previously told the she felt torn on the bill but voted against it out of fear the overstretched NHS could not protect the vulnerable.
The committee includes several health workers, including Labour MP and GP Dr Simon Opher, and Neil Shastri-Hurst, a former surgeon and medical barrister turned Tory MP.
