LORD Falconer this week brought forward his Assisted Dying Bill, which has provoked significant debate.

One former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has changed his view and come out in favour, while the current Archbishop, Justin Welby, opposes the bill and has called for the issues in it to be the subject of a Royal Commission.

This is a very emotive and difficult issue on which to articulate a clear and unambiguous view. However, my instinct is to remain cautious and to resist this legislation because of the practical issues around safeguarding vulnerable people from feeling (accurately or otherwise) under pressure to make a decision to end their lives prematurely.

While I feel enormous compassion towards those who are suffering, it is the role of the law to protect people from the unintended consequences of a well-meaning new “right”.

My view also takes on board the strong reservations of the BMA and the Royal College of GPs, which continue to express grave concern over the invidious position in which their members could be placed.

I think that Justin Welby may well be right in his assertion that only a Royal Commission could hope to successfully examine all the medical, moral and legal issues that could arise from such a change in the law.

I have for some time felt uncomfortable about the practicalities around giving high doses of morphine to those at the end of their lives. However, when I have asked senior medics about it, I have always been told that a proportionate dose will always be given to relieve the suffering of the very sick and dying, dependent on the needs of the individual patient.

Yet it is sometimes difficult for non-medics to see how administering large doses differs so greatly from the compassionate acceleration of the moment of death, as proposed in the Assisted Dying Bill.

On a happier note, I was pleased to hear this week that Salisbury City has successfully won its legal case.

Mark Winter and supporters have worked hard to retake control of the club and I hope that their efforts to gain reinstatement will meet with success, so that they can get on with the task of moving on from this dark and difficult period in the club’s history.