The news that MPs on Friday voted in favour of a bill on assisted dying in England and Wales dominates Saturday’s front pages. The Daily Mirror has two sub headlines which jointly sum up the day – “Historic moment” and “Joy and sorrow as controversial bill passes first major hurdle”. The accompanying story quotes Kim Leadbeater, the MP who introduced the bill, as saying: “I’m nearly in floods because it’s a really emotional process.”
The issue has been one that the Daily Express has long been campaigning on, so it runs a message at the very top of its front page which reads: “Thanks to our three-year campaign with Dame Esther Rantzen, MPs have taken the first historic step to legalising assisted dying.” The main headline then quotes terminally ill Dame Esther’s hope that “Now future generations will be spared the ordeals we suffer”.
The Daily Mail’s headline describes the assisted dying vote as “A leap into the unknown”, and the paper makes room on its front page for an editorial comment calling for MPs to “focus on the wider implications” of the legislation.
The i weekend is also among those leading on assisted dying, reporting that with the affirmative vote on Friday, the practice is set to become law within three years. It says officials are expected to begin drafting a workable law after the bill passed the first stage in the Commons.
The Times describes the parliamentary session on assisted dying as “an emotional five-hour debate that split all the main parties”. It reports that ministers have been warned to remained neutral as months of detailed discussions get under way. Dominating the rest of the front page is a photo of the illuminated interior of the “reborn” Notre-Dame Cathedral, which has reopened in Paris five years after it was nearly destroyed by fire.
The Financial Times also marks the reopening of Notre Dame, with an image of the workers involved in the construction gathering inside to hear a speech from French President Emmanuel Macron. But the paper leads with a report on a week of billion-pound takeovers which it says underlines the UK’s position as a Europe’s foremost destination for mergers and acquisitions this year.
Continuing its coverage of allegations against Gregg Wallace, which it led with the previous day, the Sun reports further claims of allegations against the television personality. It says on Friday night, the BBC was “facing serious questions” after complaints from 12 years ago surfaced. Wallace’s lawyers have said it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
The Daily Star’s front page also features a report on Gregg Wallace, reporting allegations from Ulrika Johnsson, who claims Wallace made a rape joke during her time on Masterchef.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the subject of the lead story for the Daily Telegraph, speaking about giving up some Ukrainian territory currently controlled by Russia. He is quoted saying he would push for territory currently held by Ukraine to come “under [the] Nato umbrella”, and then later Ukraine “can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically”. Beside that report, Australian actress Cate Blanchett is pictured in a preview of an interview discussing a new film in which she plays German chancellor Hilda Orlmann.
The decision by MPs to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales is described by the Daily Mail’s headline as “a leap into the unknown”. The Daily Mirror highlights what it calls the “joy and sorrow” of the vote, with a picture of campaigners hugging and another of a critic shedding a tear. The Times reports that NHS bosses are “already baulking” at the challenge of setting up an assisted dying service. Government insiders are also said to be nervous that the process could overshadow the prime minister’s agenda.
There’s much praise for how MPs conducted the debate yesterday. The Guardian’s sketchwriter, John Crace, describes proceedings as “intelligent and polite”, instead of the usual “partisan affairs… punctuated by jeers and braying”. Weekend i’s chief political commentator, Kitty Donaldson, says the debate was a “rare case of Parliament shown at its best”. But “depressingly”, writes the Daily Telegraph’s Madeline Grant, “many MPs who intended to vote in favour clearly didn’t understand the bill”, while others were “either too lazy or too stupid to learn about the technical aspects”.
The Daily Express leader describes the vote as a “moment of true historic significance”. ending the days when “terminally ill people lived in fear of an agonising death”. The Daily Mirror’s editorial has a message for MPs: “time to go carefully”. The paper urges lawmakers to “continue to scrutinise this emotionally charged issue with the thoughtfulness and respect that has characterised the debate so far”. The Times leader warns “the Rubicon has been crossed”, and while the bill may fail, if not, “the direction of travel will be one way: towards ever more routine state killing”.
“Derailed”, declares the Daily Mirror, as it reports on the departure of the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, after reports emerged that she had pleaded guilty to a fraud charge a decade ago. The Sun’s political editor, Harry Cole, says while the prime minister may “rightly be fuming”, he cannot escape questions of “who knew what and when?” The Daily Mail poses six questions including “why did he appoint someone with a criminal conviction?” and “are there any more law breakers in cabinet?”
Alongside the caption “from the ashes”, Weekend Financial Times is among the papers to feature images of the restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. “Five years on from inferno, Notre-Dame is more brilliant than ever”, is the Times’ headline. Its report praises the “clean stone walls providing a light filled backdrop to the statues and paintings”. The Daily Telegraph says a discreet system of pipes has also been installed, ready to spray water in case of a new disaster. The paper’s chief art critic, Alastair Sooke, says the overall transformation has created a “luminous place of worship” and something that has almost tempted him to convert.
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