UK assisted suicide bill. The vote will be close.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A private members bill to legalize assisted suicide in the UK, that is being sponsored by Kim Leadbeater MP was recently released and is scheduled to have it's first debate on November 29.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain's Labour Party, is a long-time promoter of assisted suicide. During the election Starmer promised that an assisted suicide bill would be introduced with a free-vote on the bill. The July 4, 2024 election resulted in the Labour Party winning a massive majority with 411 out of 650 seats in parliament.

An article by George Eaton that was published in the New Statesman on November 14 not only suggests that the vote on Leadbeater's bill will be close and may in fact be defeated. Eaton states that:

Until recently, the consensus was that assisted dying would pass. Back in 2015, MPs voted by 330 to 118 against changing the law but the Commons now includes many more Labour and Liberal Democrat members (who have generally been sympathetic)...

Eaton explains that the mood in the UK parliament is changing:

Yet the mood is changing fast. Last month, Wes Streeting (Health Secretary) told a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting that he intends to vote against assisted dying on the grounds that palliative care is too poor to allow people a genuine choice. Yesterday the Health Secretary went further, warning that a change in the law could force the NHS to cut services elsewhere. “There would be resource implications for doing it. And those choices would come at the expense of other choices,” he said (having ordered an analysis of the costs by civil servants).

For several reasons, Streeting’s voice carries weight in Labour. As Health Secretary he would be tasked with implementing the bill and he is popular among new MPs in particular (a crucial swing group), with some regarding him as a future party leader. Streeting also voted in favour of legalising assisted dying in 2015 – and converts are often the most persuasive advocates of a position.

Eaton continues by outlining further how views on the bill are changing:

The Health Secretary is one of three cabinet ministers explicitly opposed to assisted dying, the others being Shabana Mahmood – who would be a central figure to the legislation as Justice Secretary – and Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary. Angela Rayner, David Lammy and Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, are also expected to vote against (three are publicly supportive: Ed Miliband, Lisa Nandy and Hilary Benn). Ed Davey, one of 72 Liberal Democrat MPs, is another notable opponent of the bill.

Eaton ends his article by stating that the rise of key cabinet ministers opposing the bill and with the lack of time allocated to the debate that the bill may be defeated.

As stated previously, the assisted suicide bill is scheduled for debate on November 29.