The MP behind a bill that would legalise assisted dying has said she is confident it will pass the House of Commons in a historic vote tomorrow.
Kim Leadbeater introduced the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill last year, and it passed its first stage in Parliament – known as the Second Reading – in November.
It was the first time the UK Parliament had voted in favour of assisted dying. Following a solemn and often emotional debate, it achieved a majority of 55 in favour.
Since then, the bill has been progressing through the committee and report stages, during which amendments have been added to change how the measures would operate in real life.
Tomorrow, MPs will decide whether to back it a second time, with all those added amendments, and send it on to the House of Lords.
Leadbeater told a press conference this morning it could be a decade until the issue returns to Parliament if it is turned down.
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Despite at least a dozen MPs saying they had changed their minds and would be opposing the bill the second time around, she was bullish about its chances.
The Labour MP said: ‘There might be some small movement in the middle. Some people might change their mind one way, or they will change their mind the other way.
‘But fundamentally, I do anticipate that that majority will be heavily rewarded. So I do feel confident we can get through tomorrow successfully.’
There are also reportedly several MPs who either voted against or abstained in the first reading but now plan to vote in favour of the 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.
Lord Charlie Falconer, a former Justice Secretary, said he had ‘never seen a bill more intensely scrutinised in the Commons’ than Leadbeater’s proposed legislation.
He also described it as ‘the most safeguarded bill in the world in relation to assisted dying’.
Asked by Metro if she would fight any future efforts to broaden the scope of the legislation if it was to pass into law, Leadbeater said any changes ‘would be a matter for another Parliament’.
A high-profile intervention came earlier this week from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who argued 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.’
A YouGov poll on the eve of the landmark vote has found almost three-quarters (73%) of Brits support the measures currently included in the bill, with 16% opposed.
The Westminster bill comes as similar efforts take place in legislatures across the world, including in Scotland and France.
In March, the Isle of Man became the first part of the British Isles to formally approve the legalisation of assisted dying. The law is now awaiting Royal Assent, and is expected to come into force in 2027.
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