One of the biggest social shifts in the UK this century is another step closer, after MPs chose to give their backing to a bill legalising assisted dying.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will now progress through to the House of Lords, where it will be scrutinised by peers.
The House of Commons had already signalled approval to the proposals in principle after a historic vote last November.
But today’s Third Reading vote showed MPs are satisfied with the bill as it appears – including amendments added over the past few months – and would be happy to see it become a reality.
As the Lords typically can only delay a bill or send it back to the Commons for revisions, it is now significantly more likely that assisted dying will ultimately be legalised in England and Wales.
Today’s vote is a major victory for campaigners and for Leadbeater, who introduced the proposals as a private members’ bill just three months after last year’s general election.
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The Yorkshire MP – who represents the area once served by her murdered older sister Jo Cox – has become a full-throated champion of assisted dying since being convinced to adopt the cause for her bill.
What are the main measures in the assisted dying bill?
Kim Leadbeater has said she deliberately named her proposal the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to ensure it only ever applies to people who can no longer be treated.
It would apply to people in England and Wales aged over 18 who:
- have an untreatable, inevitably progressive illness or disease and are expected to live no longer than six months
- have the mental capacity to make a decision, and a clear, settled and informed wish to end their own life
- have not been coerced or pressured by any other person into making that decision
- have made two separate declarations, signed and unsigned, about their wish to die
Two separate doctors would need to make assessments that the person is eligible, and applications would be reviewed by a panel including a senior legal figure, a psychiatrist and a social worker.
‘Periods of reflection’ – the first lasting seven days, the second lasting 14 – would be built into the process.
If the person gets to the end of the process, they would then administer the fatal substance themselves.
In a press conference yesterday, Leadbeater said: ‘I’ve spent a lot of time working with doctors in Australia, America, in other jurisdictions where they have safe, effective, compassionate assisted dying laws.
‘They really can’t comprehend why we are so far behind the curve on this.
‘It works, and it is safe and it provides dignity and choice for terminally ill people.’
Asked by Metro whether she would fight any future efforts to broaden the scope of the legislation if it was to pass into law, she said any changes ‘would be a matter for another Parliament’.
Hear from those in support of the bill
Barry Gleeson, who has been given an incurable cancer diagnosis, and watched his own wife suffer a painful death says:
‘When I was diagnosed in January 2020, I made a clear decision: No chemotherapy. Not after seeing what it did to Sheila.
‘In 2017, I started researching assisted dying and joined a Swiss organisation, lifecircle, that helps people end their lives peacefully and legally, which has provided some comfort that I won’t face what Sheila faced.
‘[This bill] is not about encouraging death – it’s about giving people the choice to die with compassion. Polling shows that 75% of the British public support this, so why is it still up for debate?
‘Some people oppose it for religious or moral reasons. I respect that – for them. But their beliefs shouldn’t get to decide how I die.
‘If you’ve never sat beside someone who’s screaming in pain for months, it’s easy to talk about hope and palliative care.
‘But for some, like Sheila, even the best hospice care isn’t enough.
‘If the law changes, I’ll be able to live the rest of my life with peace of mind. Not because I’m in a rush to die, but because I’ll know that I don’t have to suffer. That I won’t have to put my family through what I went through with Sheila.’
Read Barry’s full story here
Among the bill’s other supporters is Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who told reporters his stance is ‘long-standing and well-known’ earlier this week.
Downing Street was very tight lipped about whether he would be casting a vote on assisted dying today.
However, he was spotted in the chamber and later taking part in the vote earlier this afternoon.
Its critics include Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood – both of whom would be instrumental in enacting the plans.
Former PM Gordon Brown also intervened in the debate, arguing the focus should be placed on improving palliative care in an article for the Guardian.
He wrote: ‘MPs are being asked to pass a bill in the full knowledge that, whenever it is implemented, the services available to all those who would prefer assisted living to assisted dying are inadequate.’
Polls have shown the public is broadly in favour of legalising assisted dying.
Findings published by YouGov on the eve of the vote revealed almost three-quarters (73%) of Brits support the measures currently included in the bill, with 16% opposed.
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