MPs will vote on an assisted suicide bill for England and Wales for the first time in nine years. SPUC has called on Parliament to reject the proposed law, which “poses an unacceptable mortal threat to vulnerable citizens. We are talking about people’s lives here.”

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is submitting a proposed bill that will legalise assisted suicide, to be introduced to Parliament on 16 October – the first bill of its kind since 2015. A debate will follow, then a vote, probably in December.

The Labour MP for Spen Valley came first in the private members’ ballot, allowing her to forward her bill.  

The details of the bill are unclear, though it would likely grant terminally ill people in England and Wales a “right” to state-sanctioned euthanasia and/or assisted suicide – the definition of “terminal” illness is similarly unclear.

A similar bill for Scotland defines “terminal” so loosely that it could potentially be interpreted to include any condition said to shorten life expectancy, including alcoholism.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised MPs a free vote on assisted suicide, legislation which he supports.

Palliative care doctors overwhelmingly oppose assisted suicide

Dr Gordon Macdonald, of Care Not Killing, which opposes assisted suicide, 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.”

Many palliative care experts have also voiced their horror at prospective assisted suicide legislation. Dr Amy Profitt, former president of the Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland (APM), recently warned that such laws are “not just fundamentally flawed – but downright dangerous”.

Dr Matthew Doré, the honorary secretary at the APM, warned a Westminster inquiry in 2023 that legalising assisted suicide would be “bonkers… We are against this in healthcare, and certainly in palliative care.”

In a 2020 position statement, the APM, representing over 1,200 palliative medicine doctors, said: “The APM opposes any change in the law to license doctors to supply or administer lethal drugs to a patient to enable them to take their own life.

“The majority (85%) of our membership do not support a change in the law, and a similar percentage would refuse to participate in assisted suicide or administer euthanasia.”

SPUC has compiled stories of ordinary people opposed to assisted suicide, which you can access here for free online.

“An unacceptable mortal threat”

Daniel Frampton, SPUC’s Editorial Officer, said: “Assisted suicide legislation poses an unacceptable mortal threat to vulnerable citizens. We are talking about people’s lives here. Rather than killing patients, our nation should care for them and prioritise their health and well-being.

“We encourage everyone, not only SPUC supporters, to lobby their MP with all urgency. Many people are at risk from this bill, or might be in the future: the disabled, the elderly, the physically and mentally ill, patients not receiving adequate or timely treatment, and even people who could be coerced by family members.

“Politicians, who have a duty to protect their public, must heed the warnings and horror stories coming out of Canada, where over 15,000 Canadians were killed by state-sanctioned assisted suicide in 2023 alone.

“This proposed law is already being framed as a matter of ‘choice’. But as we have seen in many nations around the around, patients ‘choose’ death out of fear of being a burden or because they receive inadequate treatment or are simply too poor to afford housing – this is no choice at all.

“Even the Labour Party’s own health secretary warns that patients will be ‘coerced’ into assisted suicide because of the poor state of end-of-life care in the UK. In Canada, a man suffering from cancer opted for assisted suicide after waiting too long for treatment.

“Meanwhile, Canadian veterans suffering from PTSD have been recommended assisted suicide, a shocking betrayal of soldiers who served their country. Given the UK’s involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many men and women with similar conditions could also be at risk here as well.

“The ‘slippery slope’ is real in Canada, a nation not dissimilar to Britain. To legalise assisted suicide now, just as its danger is becoming clear, would be an act of madness. Rather than ushering vulnerable people into early graves, we should be improving our health systems.

“Again, we urge all concerned citizens to raise awareness about the inherent threat to life posed by assisted suicide. Take action now.”

TAKE ACTION: Lobby your MP NOW

SPUC urges supporters and all people opposed to assisted suicide to lobby their MP now, asking them to oppose Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill.

Over half of MPs are new to Parliament and have not voted on this issue before. Many have not even thought about it, and they will be getting barrages of messages from the other side – we must make sure our voice is heard.

A tool is available on our website to help you do this. Enter your postcode to find out who your MP is, write your message, and press send.

SPUC is not providing a template text at this stage, as politicians appreciate genuine, heartfelt messages over copied-and-pasted content. MPs soon recognise if they are receiving identical communications copied and pasted from templates or campaign websites.

For a terrifying insight into the threat that assisted suicide poses to people with disability, watch Liz Carr’s documentary Better Off Dead? – available to watch on the BBC’s iPlayer.