Assisted Suicide Bill Published Less Than 3 Weeks Before Vote

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater in her office in the Houses of Parliament, London, on Nov. 11, 2024. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

A Private Members’ Bill on assisted suicide has been published, leaving less than three weeks before the first vote on the measures in the House of Commons.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who put forward the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, said on Tuesday that the proposed legislation is the “most robust” in the world.

The bill, which will likely be voted on on Nov. 29, says applications can only be made by mentally-competent adults who are terminally ill with less than six months to live and who have a “settled and informed wish to end their own life.”

It says that the form will need to be signed off by two doctors and a High Court judge.

Coercing a person to agree to assisted suicide would be an offence under the proposed legislation, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Leadbeater said that the process, which would cover England and Wales, would have “layers and layers of safeguards and protections which I believe will probably make it the most robust piece of legislation in the world.”

‘Rush It Through’

Pro-life campaigners have expressed concern over the timescale for reading Leadbeater’s bill, warning a law could be rushed through without proper scrutiny.

Right to Life UK noted that the last time MPs voted on the issue in 2015, they were given almost two months to read the bill before it was voted on. After having sufficient time to scrutinise it, MPs overwhelmingly rejected the measures in a vote, 330 to 118.

Catherine Robinson, the spokeswoman for Right to Life UK, said in a statement on Monday: “It’s outrageous that MPs and the wider public are only seeing this Bill barely two weeks before it goes to a vote.

“What is being proposed is a monumental change to our laws, and it’s totally unjustifiable and fundamentally undemocratic to try and rush it through without proper public scrutiny.”

Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) echoed these concerns, saying that two weeks was “much too narrow of a time-frame.”

CARE said this small window “could be seen as a deliberate move. We might ask if proponents are seeking to bounce MPs into making a snap decision about profound changes involving complex ethical and practical issues. That would be undemocratic, and irresponsible.”

No ‘Pressure’ From Starmer

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he would allow for a free vote in Parliament if a Private Members’ Bill was brought forward on legalising assisted suicide.

Starmer had previously said he personally backed a change in the law, but did not give his automatic support for Leadbeater’s bill, saying that he will be looking at the proposals in detail.

Speaking from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the prime minister added that he “will not be putting pressure on any MP to vote one way or the other.”

Several high-profile Labour lawmakers have already signalled their disapproval of the measures, including Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting who expressed fears over coercion and that people will feel a “duty to die.” He also said that the current state of palliative care not is good enough to give the terminally ill a “real choice.”

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood also said that she would be voting against the bill on religious grounds, adding, “I don’t think that death is a service that the state should be offering.”

The Labour-controlled Welsh Senedd also voted down a motion calling for the devolved assembly to support a change in the law in Westminster, with those rejecting assisting suicide including First Minister Eluned Morgan and Secretary for Health and Social Care Jeremy Miles.

No Safeguards Strong Enough

Critics of the proposals warn that even with so-called “robust” safeguards in place, vulnerable people could still be coerced into accepting state-administered suicide.

Campaign group Our Duty of Care, which represents doctors and nurses, wrote to the prime minister arguing it is “impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include protection from coercion and future expansion,” pointing to Canada as an example of where “safeguards can be eroded in a matter of just five years.”

“The prohibition of killing is the safeguard. The current law is the protection for the vulnerable,” Our Duty of Care’s letter, penned by Dr. Gillian Wright and Dr. David Randall, said.

MPs have been urged to invest in better ways to support and care for terminally ill people, rather than voting to legalise assisted suicide.

CARE said, “We believe the UK’s existing, life-affirming approach – meeting a person’s physical, mental, and spiritual needs as they grapple with an illness – is the most ethical, and compassionate one, and we'd urge parliamentarians to uphold this approach in the coming years.”

PA Media contributed to this report.