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MPs are to be granted a free vote on legalising assisted dying in the UK by the end of the year, after a bill to give terminally ill people “choice at the end of life” is presented to parliament.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater announced on Thursday that she will table a private members’ bill later this month setting out proposals to grant eligible adults nearing the end of life the right to control their deaths.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously promised to provide time for a vote on the issue “by way of a private members’ bill”. As the first MP selected in a ballot to table such legislation, Leadbeater is guaranteed an opportunity to present her proposals for debate in the Commons.
Starmer, who has said he is “personally in favour of changing the law” on assisted dying, has committed to giving MPs a free vote on the issue, meaning they are not whipped by their party to vote a particular way.
In 2015, the House of Commons rejected a bill on assisted dying — which the NHS defines as “deliberately assisting a person to kill themselves” — when a bill was debated.
Assisted dying is currently illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
Across the UK, there is growing momentum behind attempts to change the law, with politicians in Scotland considering the introduction of legislation to allow assisted dying. Politicians on the Isle of Man and Jersey have both noted in favour of reforming the law.
Leadbeater’s bill will be formally introduced in the Commons on October 16 with a debate and vote on the legislation expected later this year.
“I believe that with the right safeguards and protections in place, people who are already dying and are mentally competent to make a decision should be given the choice of a shorter, less painful death”, the MP for Spen Valley said on Thursday.
She added that she would consult “widely” on the details of the legislation, noting the bill would “not put pressure on anybody to agree to an assisted death against their will”.
Leadbeater said the bill would “not undermine calls for improvements to palliative care nor conflict with the rights of people with disabilities to be treated equally”, and have the respect and support they are right to campaign for.
But some disability rights campaigners and medical figures remain opposed to attempts to change the law on assisted dying, saying those who live with terminal illnesses may feel pressured to end their life for fear of becoming a burden.
Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of campaign group Care Not Killing, said: “I would strongly urge the government to focus on fixing our broken palliative care system that sees up to one in four Brits who would benefit from this type of care being unable to access it, rather than discussing again this dangerous and ideological policy.”
If the law is changed, England would join European countries including Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as several US states, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in giving terminally ill people the choice to control how they die.
According to an Opinium poll published in March, on behalf of the campaign group Dignity in Dying, 75 per cent of people living in the UK support assisted dying.
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said: “This is a historic opportunity to bring about real change for dying people; one that commands vast public support and one that MPs must grip urgently.”