Bill to give ‘choice at end of life’ to be introduced to Parliament this month

By Aine Fox and Richard Wheeler, Reporters3rd October 2024News EnglandAssisted Dying, End Of Life Care, Government / Politics, News England, Palliative Care

Proposals to change the law to give terminally ill people “choice at the end of life” are to be introduced in Parliament this month.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said she hoped for “honest, compassionate and respectful debate” when her Bill, which will be tabled on October 16, is considered in the Commons.

The conversation around legalising assisted dying has been increasingly in the spotlight for the past year, with high-profile figures including broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen calling for a parliamentary debate and vote on change.

Dame Esther (pictured) said she is “thrilled and grateful” at the news, which she said could mean “terminally ill people like me can look forward with hope and confidence that we could have a good death”.

She said: “I never thought I might live to see the current cruel law change.

“But even if it is too late for me, I know thousands of terminally ill patients and their families will be given new hope.

“All we ask is to be given the choice over our own lives.”

Ms Leadbeater said her private member’s bill (PMB) would establish in law the right for terminally ill eligible adults to have choice at the end of life to shorten their deaths and ensure stronger protections for them and their loved ones in the aftermath.

She said: “Parliament should now be able to consider a change in the law that would offer reassurance and relief – and most importantly, dignity and choice – to people in the last months of their lives.”

Her Bill is guaranteed time for debate in the Commons after she topped the PMB ballot, which gives her priority on a Friday sitting.

It will be the first time the topic has been debated in the House of Commons since 2015, when an assisted dying Bill was defeated.

The Spen Valley representative, who is the sister of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, said she had “thought long and hard about what legislation I should introduce” after she came top in a ballot which allows chosen MPs to debate a Bill of their choice.

There is “widespread agreement that the current legislation, passed over 60 years ago, is no longer fit for purpose”, Ms Leadbeater added.

MPs debating and eventually voting on a Bill have a “heavy responsibility”, she acknowledged, but added that doing nothing would “leave too many people as they come to the end of their life continuing to suffer in often unbearable pain and fear of what is to come, denied the choice they deserve”.

Ms Leadbeater said: “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, on their own terms and without placing family and loved ones at risk of prosecution.”

She pledged to consult widely about the details of her Bill, and sought to assure the public that it will not – as some campaigners have argued – pressure people to have an assisted death against their will.

Ms Leadbeater added: “It will not undermine calls for improvements to palliative care.

“Nor will it conflict with the rights of people with disabilities to be treated equally and have the respect and support they are absolutely right to campaign for in order to live fulfilling lives.

“I support these causes just as passionately.

“The evidence from the Health and Social Care Select Committee report earlier this year found that where legislation similar to mine has been introduced elsewhere around the world it has been accompanied by improved palliative care provision and has not impacted negatively on the lives of disabled people.”

Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing which is opposed to a change in the law, said the Bill’s introduction was “clearly disappointing news”.

He 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.”

Dame Esther, who revealed in December that she has joined the Swiss Dignitas clinic as she lives with terminal cancer, had spoken out recently to call for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to follow through on his pledge to make time in Parliament for a debate and free vote on assisted dying.

The Childline founder, who has spoken about the fears she would have for the potential criminal repercussions her family could face if they travelled with her to Dignitas, described the current law as a “cruel mess”.

Assisting someone to end their life is against the law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and while it is not a specific criminal offence in Scotland, assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.

A Bill is currently being considered at Holyrood that, if passed, would give terminally ill adults in Scotland the right to request help to end their life.

Ms Leadbeater’s Bill would cover England and Wales only.

Former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer of Thoroton has introduced the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill in the House of Lords, which is expected to be debated in mid-November.

The peer said he looks forward to “working with Kim and colleagues across both Houses to ensure that a safe, compassionate assisted dying law is passed”.