MHKs have rejected a move for government to take over the stalled right to die bill.

The vote following a rancorous debate in the House of Keys which saw Chief Minister Alfred Cannan accuse politicians of pushing ‘third rate legislation’.

Mover of the private member’s bill, Dr Alex Allinson, insisted that the Bill was not flawed or broken but could be improved.

He has tabled a series of amendments, drawn up by the AG Chambers and to be debated by Tynwald in June, that aims to address concerns raised by the UK Ministry of Justice.

The MoJ says it won’t approve the Assisted Dying Bill in its current form as further safeguards require to be written into the bill to ensure human rights compliance on measures relating to coercion, monitoring and patient capacity.

In the House of Keys this week, Dr Allinson’s successor as Treasury Minister proposed a way forward.

He tabled a motion that would task the island’s senior civil servant with preparing a memorandum setting out Privy Council drafting amendments to address the monitoring, safeguarding and capacity issues raised.

This would have effectively meant the government taking control of the bill.

But the Keys instead voted to support an amendment from Dr Allinson that would leave it to him to bring forward the necessary amendments.

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan described the bill as ‘third rate legislation’ that was ‘dangerously incomplete’ and ‘unworkable’.

‘The reputation of the House of Keys is at stake,’ he said.

He accused MLCs of failing in their duty to scrutinise the bill and claimed LegCo had become ‘significantly politicised’.

He appealed to supporters of the bill to ‘think carefully’ and warned if they got this wrong they would have ‘undermined Tynwald and failed the people of the Isle of Man’.

Mr Cannan offered a comparison with Jersey’s assisted dying bill, also sent for Royal Assent, which comprises 140 pages. ‘The bill we have in front of us at the last look was 18 pages long in its entirety,’ he said.

Glenfaba and Peel MHK Kate Lord Brennan said: ‘There has been too little listening, too much dismissal of concerns of amendments.’

She claimed members had been ‘hoodwinked’ and Keys and LegCo had been ‘carried along on a wave of assurances’ that matters could be dealt with by way of regulations.

A key part, who would actually provide the assisted dying service, remained a mystery, she said.

There was a bizarre exchange between the Chief Minister and Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper when the latter spoke of evidence given by barrister Charles Foster, a prominent figure in the debate over assisted dying.

Mr Hooper said the evidence had been ‘somewhat undermined’ as Mr Foster had ‘lived for a time as a badger, a fox and a deer’.

This prompted Mr Cannan to accuse him of ‘rubbishing an eminent professor’.

With the Ramsey MHK refusing to withdraw his comment, Mr Cannan said: ‘It’s the wrong Charles Foster, you muppet.’

The Chief Minister withdrew that comment at the insistence of the Speaker.

Passionate naturalist Mr Foster did indeed write a book in 2016, entitled Being a Beast, about his experiences living as a badger.

Onchan MHK Julie Edge said eight members had warned repeatedly about safeguards.

She said Dr Allinson’s amendments were not simply technical corrections and the Keys should have the option to scrutinise or debate them.

Rushen MHK Dr Michelle Haywood said Mr Thomas’ motion was an attempt to ‘grab it into government’ so that it ‘never sees the light again’.