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The cost of assisted dying in the UK could mean it ends up being only be for the wealthy, a specialist lawyer has told Sky News.

MPs voted the assisted dying bill through its second stage last month, meaning the UK is closer to allowing people to end their own lives legally.

The bill stipulates people will have to have been given six months or less to live, must have two doctors saying they are eligible and a High Court judge would have to make a final decision.

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Lawyer Alexa Payet, who has represented the families of British people who have chosen assisted dying overseas, told Sky News the costs could run into “tens of thousands of pounds”.

She also said because the scope of the bill is so narrow, people who are terminally ill but have longer to live will still choose to go overseas to die.

“Nothing about legal procedure has been set out in the bill yet but I can imagine the process could be tens of thousands of pounds,” she said.

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“That begs the question as to whether any funding will be made available.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeve this week refused to say if assisted dying would be made free under the NHS, ahead of a committee of MPs being formed on Wednesday to scrutinise the bill and propose amendments.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater among supporters of Dignity in Dying, celebrating hearing the result of the vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. A proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle after MPs voted 330 to 275, majority 55, to approve it at second reading. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024.
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Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced the assisted dying bill to parliament, which passed its second stage last month

Ms Payet, partner in the disputed wills and estates team at Michaelmores LLP, has successfully fought for the families of British people who have gone to places like Dignitas in Switzerland.

As assisted dying is currently a criminal offence, British people who help someone to die at an overseas clinic are can commit a crime which means they are not allowed to benefit from the proceeds from wills or shared assets.

Helping could entail filling out the Dignitas form or organising transport.

Read more:
The details of the assisted dying bill

What happens now MPs have backed assisted dying bill?

Ms Payet has worked on, among many others, two cases that have become case law, which has allowed judges to dismiss other cases – but people still have to go through a criminal investigation before.

She said the cost of lawyers to get a High Court judge to approve the application would be considerable.

Then there would be the legal costs family members might need for helping the person to die, because the Suicide Act may still apply so anybody encouraging or assisting suicide would be criminally liable.

They would then need to pay for lawyers to fight for their right to claim inheritance.

Lawyer Alexa Payet, who specialises in relief against forfeiture, warned the cost of assisted dying could be very high. Pic: Michaelmores LLP
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Lawyer Alexa Payet, who specialises in relief against forfeiture, warned the cost of assisted dying could be very high. Pic: Michaelmores LLP

Ms Payet said: “Any family members who provide any form of assistance getting them to that stage of assisted death, they don’t seem to be covered by this bill as drafted.

“I think there’s a question mark over what would happen with those individuals, both from the criminal aspect, but also from the forfeiture.

“It seems to me that the law, as it stands, may apply to those people, and that’s something else that should be given some consideration.”

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Opinions remain divided after assisted dying vote

She added there has been no mention of whether legal aid would be available, but said many people would not be eligible yet still could not afford the legal fees.

“This bill is incredibly narrow,” she said.

“Anecdotally, most of the people that go off to Dignitas are not people that fit this category of the terminally ill with six months or less to die.

“So, even if that bill was passed, it’s not going to affect the large majority of people who are currently taking steps to obtain an assisted death.

“Those people are presumably still going to go off to these overseas clinics which cost around £10,000 to £15,000 but then there’s also the associated costs like travel, with some people needing an air ambulance.”

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Tories repeat calls for Rayner to resign after lawyers claim they did not provide tax advice

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Tories repeat calls for Rayner to resign after lawyers claim they did not provide tax advice

The Conservatives have repeated calls for Angela Rayner to resign after a legal firm she used said it did not provide her with tax advice in a row over underpaid stamp duty.

Party leader Kemi Badenoch said more “damning evidence” had come to light regarding the deputy leader’s tax affairs, which is now subject to an investigation by the prime minister’s independent ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus.

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The Daily Telegraph reported that Verrico & Associates, a conveyancing firm that handled the purchase of her £800,000 flat in Hove, East Sussex, did not in fact give tax or trust advice to Ms Rayner – and that they believed they had been made “scapegoats” in the political row.

Joanna Verrico, the managing director, told The Telegraph: “We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.

“The stamp duty for the Hove flat was calculated using HMRC’s own online calculator, based on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner. That’s what we used, and it told us we had to pay £30,000 based on the information provided to us. We believe that we did everything correctly and in good faith. Everything was exactly as it should be.

“We probably are being made scapegoats for all this, and I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it. We are not an inexperienced firm, but we’re not qualified to give advice on trust and tax matters and we advise clients to seek expert advice on these.”

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Sky News has approached representatives for Ms Rayner for comment as well Verrico & Associates.

The deputy prime minister, who is also the housing secretary, has been under scrutiny after the newspaper claimed she avoided £40,000 in stamp duty on the flat in Hove by removing her name from the deeds of another property in Greater Manchester.

Ms Rayner said she sold her stake in her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne to a trust that was set up to provide for her teenage son, who has lifelong disabilities – meaning she did not technically own that home when she purchased the one in Hove, and so was not subject to the higher rate of stamp duty that applies to second homes.

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Liz Bates on the row engulfing Angela Rayner

On Tuesday Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy claimed she made an honest mistake owing to her “complex” living situation and that lawyers initially advised her she only owed the basic rate of stamp duty for the Hove property.

In an interview with Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ms Rayner became tearful as she claimed she received incorrect tax advice and spoke to her family about “packing it all in”.

However, following subsequent media reports, Ms Rayner sought further legal advice on Monday this week which advised her that the higher rate of stamp duty was in fact due on her East Sussex flat.

The deputy prime minister has claimed she made an honest mistake as lawyers initially advised her she only owed the basic rate of stamp duty when she bought a flat in Hove in May.

Read more:
Key questions left unanswered in Angela Rayner tax row
Victim of misogyny’ or ‘freeloading’ deputy prime minister?

On the statement from Verrico & Associates, Ms Badenoch said: “This is yet more damning evidence that Angela Rayner has not been honest with the British public.

“From the start we’ve had nothing but excuses, deflections and lies. Enough is enough.

“How many final straws can there be for Angela Rayner? She must resign or Keir Starmer must finally find the backbone to sack her.”

Sir Keir Starmer has so far said he would not be drawn on Ms Rayner’s political future, but said he would “of course” act on the findings of Sir Laurie who will look into whether she broke ministerial rules.

In an interview with the BBC, Sir Keir said: “There’s a clear procedure. I strengthened that procedure. I am expecting a result pretty quickly.

“I do want it to be comprehensive … and then of course I will act on whatever the report is that’s put in front of me.”

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SEC’s agenda proposes crypto safe harbors, broker-dealers reforms

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SEC’s agenda proposes crypto safe harbors, broker-dealers reforms

SEC’s agenda proposes crypto safe harbors, broker-dealers reforms

The proposed rule changes potentially affecting SEC guidelines on broker-dealers, custody and reporting could allow crypto companies to operate in the US with less oversight.

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Fate of ‘Red Queen’ Rayner in hands of ‘quango king’ baronet

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Fate of 'Red Queen' Rayner in hands of 'quango king' baronet

The backgrounds of Angela Rayner and Sir Laurie Magnus – the sleaze watchdog who holds her fate in his hands – couldn’t be more different.

Labour’s “Red Queen” is a working-class council house girl who got pregnant at 16. He’s an old Etonian “quango king”, a City grandee and a pillar of the establishment.

He’s so posh he wasn’t awarded his knighthood in the usual way by the Monarch after being nominated by 10 Downing Street. He’s a baronet whose title is hereditary.

But though Sir Laurie’s a proper toff, he’s no pushover and he doesn’t waste time. In 2023 his investigation into former Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs took just six days.

Sir Laurie concluded that Mr Zahawi’s conduct had fallen below what was expected from a minister. So the then PM Rishi Sunak sacked him for a “serious breach of the ministerial code”.

This year, Labour minister Tulip Siddiq quit after Sir Laurie said she should have been more alert to “potential reputational risks” of ties to her aunt in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.

That inquiry took eight days, so might Sir Laurie’s Angela Rayner probe take about a week? Perhaps, though it has been suggested he’s due to go on holiday on Saturday. So could his report come before then?

More on Angela Rayner

Sir Laurie was appointed by Mr Sunak more than eight weeks after he became PM. At the time, there were claims that he was struggling to find a candidate.

That was because the two previous holders of the post, veteran mandarin Sir Alex Allan and former Royal courtier Sir Christopher Geidt, both quit after disagreements with Boris Johnson.

Sir Alex quit in 2020 after finding former home secretary Priti Patel guilty of bullying. But then Mr Johnson declared that she had not breached the ministerial code.

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Angela Rayner admitted to Beth Rigby that she didn’t pay enough tax on a property she bought in Hove.

Sir Christopher, a former private secretary to the Queen, quit in June 2022 after concluding Mr Johnson may have broken ministerial rules over party-gate.

So Mr Sunak turned to Sir Laurie, a former merchant banker who served on half a dozen quangos and whose long business career involved links with disgraced retail tycoon Sir Philip Green and the late tycoon Robert Maxwell.

Read more:
Rayner admits she should have paid more stamp duty
Rayner came out fighting in Sky interview
Rayner’s tax affairs statement in full

There was immediately controversy because Mr Sunak refused to give Sir Laurie the power to launch his own investigations into allegations or ministerial wrong-doing. That changed when Sir Keir Starmer became PM last year.

But before then, Sir Laurie couldn’t launch his own inquiry into the conduct of Dominic Raab over bullying allegations or Suella Braverman over claims of leaking and ignoring legal advice over asylum.

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Sky’s Paul Kelso breaks down the facts behind Angela Rayner’s stamp duty controversy.

The role of independent adviser on ministerial standards, to give Sir Laurie his official title, was created by Tony Blair in 2006. Ministers can refer themselves for investigation, as Tulip Siddiq and Angela Rayner both did.

Why was Sir Laurie chosen? A senior Square Mile insider told Sky News: “Laurie Magnus is very much a member of the City’s great and the good.”

Sir Laurence Henry Philip Magnus, 3rd Baronet is the third in a baronetcy that dates back to 1917, when it was awarded to an ancestor who represented London University in the House of Commons.

His quango CV includes the chairmanship of Historic England, a former trustee of the conservation charity the Landmark Trust, ex-chair of the National Trust, membership of the Culture Recovery Fund, a trustee of English Heritage Trust and deputy chair of the All Churches Trust.

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Has Rayner tax issues thrown uncertainty over the Starmer project?

As Historic England boss, Sir Laurie entered the row over the tearing down of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, claiming such statues should not be removed but have “counter-memorials” placed alongside them.

Besides his quango roles, Sir Laurie remains a major figure in the City, as a senior adviser at investment banking group Evercore and chairing two FTSE 250 listed investment trusts.

Which means that the class divide between the old Etonian City grandee and the former shop steward and champion of workers’ rights whose fate is in his hands couldn’t be greater.

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