'Questions to ask' over halted assisted dying bill

The Manx parliament has "questions it needs to ask itself" after the UK Ministry of Justice halted progress with the Assisted Dying Bill, the chief minister has said.

The legislation, to allow terminally ill Manx residents the right to die, was approved by the Tynwald in March 2025.

But last week, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it could not recommend the bill for Royal Assent unless more safeguards were written into the legislation.

Some politicians questioned whether the move represented a "constitutional crisis", however Chief Minister Alfred Cannan insisted that was not the case and the issues raised were for the Manx parliament to resolve.

Cannan said as it was a private member's bill, and not one brought forward by the government, it was a "parliamentary matter" which would need to be dealt with by the House of Keys and Legislative Council.

"I'm not downplaying the significance of legislation coming back, there are clearly questions that parliament, Tynwald , the House of Keys will have to ask itself," he said.

"But the position is this is a parliamentary matter, there is no constitutional crisis between the Isle of Man Government and the Ministry of Justice and this is now a matter for Tynwald to resolve," he continued.

The Ministry of Justice has asked for key safeguards - which were due to be set out in secondary legislation - to be written explicitly into the main body of the bill to ensure compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Those, Cannan said, were things that "clearly need to be addressed".

MHK Lawrie Hooper argued that it was "entering the sphere of constitutional issues if the UK are deciding to interfere with domestic matters".

He said it was important for the island to "protect its constitutional independence", and the ability for the Isle of Man to govern and legislate for itself.

Rob Callister noted that there was assisted dying legislation being progressed across the British Isles, and questioned whether it was "just the Isle of Man being individually targeted".

But MHK Julie Edge said it was a "constitutional embarrassment, not a constitutional crisis".

She said as the last time a bill was sent back was in 1972, it was "not an event that happens lightly and it was clear that there were significant issues with our bill".

"It is not constitutional - it is get it right and send it back to us," she added.

Responding to an urgent question in Tynwald, Cannan said there was "no reason to believe the island was being targeted".

He said it was "regrettable there has been a delay in terms of receiving correspondence" from the MoJ on its final decision, but the reasons it could not recommend the bill for Royal Assent had been "clearly set out".

In a personal statement made to Tynwald, the bill's author, Alex Allinson, confirmed work was already underway to address the "technical issues" raised by the MoJ.

"I intend to work with Tynwald members in the coming weeks, to bring forward a series of amendments to the bill that will strengthen and improve existing safeguards," he said.

That would "ensure that the legislation we have passed best suits the needs of our island while safeguarding genuine choice and autonomy for our people," he added.

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