Image Source: (L) UK Parliament | (R) SPUC Pro-Life
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that palliative and social care funding should be fixed before Parliament considers legalising assisted suicide in England and Wales.
It is the first time Burnham has set out his position on the issue since becoming Prime Minister. MPs are expected to debate assisted suicide again, after Parliament returns, on 11th September, since Kent Labour MP Lauren Edwards announced plans to reintroduce legislation previously brought forward by her colleague Kim Leadbeater.
Although the Government is expected to remain officially neutral, Burnham’s comments indicate that he is unlikely to support the Bill in its current circumstances.
“I take the view that that debate, and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point about those issues, personally, I think there’s something that needs to happen first,” he told reporters.
“That is the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care.
“I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in a context of people not receiving that care and having the peace of mind about that care.”
The position is a marked contrast to that of former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who supported the previous attempt to legalise assisted suicide and provided parliamentary time for MPs to debate it. He even created a clandestine plan to introduce the measures through a private member’s bill before the 2024 general election. His backing was privately cited by some Labour MPs as influencing their votes.
In 2025, the House of Commons approved Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill by a margin of just twelve votes. It would have allowed adults expected to die within six months to have medical professionals aid them in their suicide, subject to sub-par safeguards.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through the House of Lords after peers proposed an unprecedented number of amendments—over one thousand. Peers cited the serious flaws in the legislation that, according to disability rights groups, would have exposed elderly, disabled, and vulnerable people to pressure to end their lives prematurely.
Edwards has said she intends to introduce an almost identical Bill to “finish the job” begun by Leadbeater.
Burnham’s remarks came as he announced plans to reform social care, including proposals for a national care service and an attempt to build cross-party political agreement over long-term funding.
His position has changed over time. Before the first Commons vote in 2024, Burnham said he would “probably vote in favour” of assisted suicide in principle, citing family experiences that had altered his views.
However, he also insisted that hospices should be properly funded before any assisted suicide law came into force. As an MP in 2015, he abstained on a similar Bill because of concerns about safeguards and the possibility that vulnerable people could feel pressured.
SPUC CEO, John Deighan, welcomes the news: “Sir Keir Starmer’s legacy will be one of presiding over the parliament of death. Andy Burnham looks set to change that. SPUC is overjoyed to see the Prime Minister acknowledge what we have been saying since this debate started: this Bill does not protect the dignity of the most vulnerable in society. With such a stacked plan for the new government we hope that Burnham will refuse to give Lauren Edwards the parliamentary time she wants to rehash a done debate. Assisted suicide, at the current time, cannot be safe. Assisted suicide, at any time, will never be safe. Dying people deserve proper care, attention, and dignity, not a state sanctioned suicide.
“SPUC continues to work to make sure this Bill fails. The new Prime Minister’s remarks give us great hope.”
