Strong opposition to euthanasia during House of Lords (UK) debate.

The following message was received from the Care Not Killing Alliance (UK).

Dear friends,

Almost two thirds of the 90 speakers in today’s House of Lords Second Reading debate spoke against the Leadbeater Bill, with 85 speeches still to come next Friday (19 September). Many important points came up, but we want to highlight these six.

1. Lord Hacking said his postbag had been almost exclusively opposed to the Bill, and many Peers made a point of thanking those who had written. Lord Rees of Easton (former Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees) added:

“I have been particularly struck by the hand-written letters which have been sent, which speaks about people’s real dedication.”

2. Oxford academic Lord Biggar cited polling commissioned by Care Not Killing:

“Some—typically privileged like us—would have a choice between decent palliative care and assisted suicide. But others—poorer and less white—would have to choose between grievous suffering and killing themselves. That is why two-thirds of the more than 5,000 people polled by Focaldata last November wanted end-of-life care sorted out first before any thought is given to assisted suicide.”

Baroness Bennett claimed “clear and settled” public support for “assisted dying”, but CNK polling also found that public support is in fact fluid, collapsing (to just 11%) after key arguments and evidence are heard. (Read more).

3. Several Peers said that despite supporting the principle, the Bill needed significant amendment. Former Health Minister Lord Bethell was devastating in his assessment:

“Without substantial clarification and reform, it could devastate the NHS and our healthcare system. We must address its fundamental flaws, or this legislation should take pause before it irreparably damages our health system.”

4. As if to illustrate warnings that this bill would be susceptible to extension – a “first step” – Baroness Murphy referred to “the Canada model—a rather wider scheme, which I would have supported strongly… I am content to go through with this Bill as it is, but I am one who would like to see in the future an expansion of eligibility criteria.”

5. The Lords Delegated Powers Committee and Lords Constitution Committee issued significant new reports this week, with barrister Lord Carlile saying of the former: “by the calm standards of that committee, its criticism is excoriating”. 

Key conclusions:

The Bill’s use of “delegated powers… gives sweeping, unspecified and unjustified powers to the Government while removing Parliament’s scrutiny role.”

“It is constitutionally appropriate for the House of Lord to scrutinise the Bill and, if so minded, vote to amend, or reject it.”

6. Given that this bill relies on predicting that someone is within six months of death, Lord Polak hit home when he said he spoke “as someone who was given six months to live 37 years ago.” KC and former MP Baroness Prentis of Banbury’s personal perspective was also very affecting:

“I have recently been diagnosed with aggressive cancer and my treatment starts this week. My prognosis is excellent… But there have been some very low moments in the past few weeks… I ask noble Lords to think hard about me, with all my advantages, feeling like a burden… think about the vulnerable and how easy it is for them to feel that their lives are not worth living.”

Please keep engaging with Peers, and please know that your letters (and emails!) are making a difference.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon MacDonald, Chief Executive.

Daniel Cuffe, Campaign Manager.

Assisted Dying bill (UK) is losing support.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Eleanor Hayward reported for the Times that a poll by Whitestone Insight, a member of the British Polling Council, asked 103 out of 650 MP's how they planned to vote on the Kim Leadbeater assisted suicide bill at final reading.

The bill returns to parliament, from committee, on May 16.

The poll indicated that 42% of the MP's where planning to vote against the assisted suicide bill, 36% supported the bill, while the others were undecided or planning to abstain from the vote.

The Leadbeater assisted suicide bill passed, on November 29, 2024, at second reading by a vote of 330 to 275. This new poll suggests that the vote has shifted.

The Times reported that:

Some MPs have turned against the bill as it has gone through the committee stage, during which the bill lost its requirement for a High Court judge to sign off each assisted dying application. Dozens of MPs are thought to have only backed the bill at its second reading because of this requirement.

Gordon Macdonald

Dr. Gordon Macdonald, the chief executive of Care Not Killing, told the Times that:

“The more MPs hear about assisted suicide and what it entails, the less likely they are to support changing the law.

“Clearly MPs recognise that removing the requirement for every application to be overseen by the High Court — part of a formal judicial process with the duty to consider all views and the power to summon witnesses — makes the bill much less safe, while the rejection of amendments aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people in our society is making many people think again.

“This bill was sold to parliament and to members of the public as being the safest in the world, yet the truth is this bill if it became law would put the lives of vulnerable people at risk, exactly as we see in every jurisdiction that has legalised assisted suicide or euthanasia.”

To gain back support for her assisted suicide bill, Kim Leadbeater recently urged MPs to back an amendment to the assisted dying bill which would commission a new assessment on the state of palliative care, a move first proposed by the bill’s opponents.

Leadbeater doesn't need to amend the bill in order to commission an assessment on the state of palliative care, nonetheless, this is an attempt by her to convince more MP's to support her assisted suicide bill.

Britain and Scotland will vote on assisted suicide bills in May

The Care NOT Killing Alliance in the UK sent an update urging supporters to contact elected representatives in (London UK) and in Scotland, to oppose the assisted suicide bills. The message stated:

Dear Friends:

We learned this week that the Leadbeater Bill’s Report Stage will now commence on Friday 16 May, a delay of several weeks, while the Scottish Daily Express reported today that ‘a vote on the private member's Bill from Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur is expected in the first two weeks of next month, and it must take place before May 23.’

In these next few weeks, we all have an opportunity to influence politicians as they weigh up the risks posed by these bills, and while it’s easy to be cynical, a great many are giving this serious and sincere thought. As SNP MSP Michelle Thomson said today:

‘I started looking at it and instinctively, I was in favour of it. I saw my mother die of cancer and all that she went through… But I’m not making decisions just for my mother, I’m not making it just for me, I’m making decisions for huge sectors of society and that’s why I hope that everybody will look into the matter really carefully and consider all these constituent groups too.’

Care NOT Killing urges their supporters to contact elected representatives. The letter continues:

It was reassuring to hear that Health Secretary Wes Streeting will once again vote against the Leadbeater Bill. Remember, he voted FOR a similar bill in 2015 — parliamentarians can and do change position in light of the evidence.

If the law did change, how would legalised assisted suicide sit alongside existing healthcare concerns? It was reported this week that:

‘Hospitals will receive an “incentive payment” for each patient they remove [from their waiting lists], and a payment cap of 5% of a trust’s waiting list is being scrapped, according to documents seen by the Guardian. It means there is no limit to the payments NHS trusts could receive for taking patients off their lists… The strategy is likely to raise concerns among patient charities that some people may be wrongly removed.’

The letter continues with Professor Kevin Yuill of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia commented:

‘Nothing bad could possibly come of [the Leadbeater Bill’s] provisions that doctors can bring the topic [of assisted suicide] up and that it will be outsourced to for-profit companies. Everything is fine!’

The letter then looks at what is happening in Canada:

Ultimately, what could healthcare look like a few years after legalisation, when the law has already been extended and people have become desensitised? Dr Ramona Coelho, a member of Ontario (Canada)’s MAiD Death Review Committee (MDRC), pointed this week to this story:

‘Mr. C, diagnosed with metastatic cancer, [who had] initially expressed interest in MAiD but then experienced cognitive decline and became delirious. He was sedated for pain management. Despite the treating team confirming that capacity was no longer present, a MAiD practitioner arrived and withheld sedation, attempting to rouse him. It was documented that the patient mouthed “yes” and nodded and blinked in response to questions. Based on this interaction, the MAiD provider deemed the patient to have capacity. The MAiD practitioner then facilitated a virtual second assessment, and MAiD was administered.’

‘If we truly value dignity, we must invest in comprehensive care to prevent patients from being administered speedy death in their most vulnerable moment, turning their worst day into potentially their last.’

They conclude their letter with a statement from former Peterborough MP Lord Jackson has written this week:

‘Vulnerable people across the UK require MPs to survey the horizon, assess the risks and legislate for the weakest. The Bill process so far has proven us to be inept in this. We must do better. Kim Leadbeater must do better. Objectively, this Bill deserves to fail.’

More articles on the topic: 

• British MP who supported assisted suicide is opposing the assisted suicide bill (Link). 
• The UK assisted dying bill gets more dangerous by the day (Link). 
• UK assisted suicide bill is losing support and can be defeated (Link). 
• Follow the money. Members of Scottish parliament accept money from? (Link).
• Scotland's assisted suicide bill is dangerous (Link).

Update on Assisted Suicide bills in Britain, Scotland and Ireland.

Join the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the Care Not Killing Alliance for a Zoom event on Thursday March 20 at 3pm ET (Toronto Time) (note changed to 3 pm).

Register for the Zoom event in advance (Registration Link).

Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO for the Care Not Killing Alliance will provide an update on the assisted suicide bills and debate in Britain, Scotland and Ireland.

Dr Gordon Macdonald

Dr Gordon Macdonald will provide an overview of the current debate concerning the Leadbeater bill that proposes to legalize assisted suicide in England and Wales, the McArthur bill that proposes to legalize assisted suicide in Scotland and the debate in Ireland.

Macdonald and Schadenberg will also discuss the assisted suicide bills in the Isle of Man and Jersey.

Dr Macdonald has led the Care Not Killing Alliance for many years. He works with groups and individuals from multiple points of view.

We will make time for questions and answers at the end.

Register for the Zoom event in advance (Registration Link).

Care Not Killing Alliance UK seeks submissions concerning UK assisted suicide bill.

The Care Not Killing Alliance UK sent out an alert urging more people to send a submission to the UK parliament concerning their assisted suicide bill.

Care Not Killing Alliance

Five-and-a-half weeks after the second reading debate on Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill and barely two weeks until Committee stage is due to commence, the call for evidence that was authorised in November has finally been issued. To quote a former director of legislative affairs at 10 Downing Street:

“We shouldn’t have to fight for the process to be taken seriously.”

No formal deadline has been declared which could lead people to think there's no hurry, but realistically, evidence should be submitted in the next two weeks (before committee stage begins in earnest) to stand a real chance of being seen and considered.

Please consider making a submission in the coming days, especially where you are able to speak from particular experience: as a doctor or nurse, as a lawyer, as a social worker, as a pharmacist, as a carer or loved one, as a disabled person, or simply as someone who doesn’t wish to ever have to justify saying ‘no’ to assisted suicide.

The committee's members were chosen by Ms Leadbeater having voted 13-9 for the Bill. Yet this remains an important opportunity to pose difficult questions, to air challenging evidence, and to highlight deficiencies that were neglected in the rush to second reading. Remember, many who are sympathetic to the principle of a change in the law voted no because they see that this is a bad bill, while dozens of MPs who voted for the Bill at second reading “could withdraw support at the next parliamentary vote.”

What do you need to know about the call for evidence?

The Committee exists to consider “the existing clauses of the Bill and of any amendments tabled to the Bill,” so submissions “should address matters contained within the Bill and concentrate on issues where you have expertise and on factual information of which you would like the Committee to be aware.”

Your submission should be a Word document, should not exceed 2,000 words (guideline), and should consist of numbered paragraphs topped (ideally) by a brief introduction to you (or your organisation) and a summary of your evidence. Essential statistics or further details can be added as annexes, which should also be numbered.

You should be careful not to comment on matters currently (or soon to be) before a court of law.

Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to (clearly referenced, preferably with a hyperlink.) Evidence which is accepted and published by the Committee becomes subject to parliamentary copyright, and you shouldn’t publish your evidence until the Committee has done so.

Most submissions are, at the Committee’s discretion, published online.

Your submission must be sent to tiabill@parliament.uk 

The covering email should include your name, address, telephone number and email address; if you don’t wish your submission to be published, you should also include your reasons.

Once the Committee is underway, amendments may be proposed and you may wish to submit further evidence on those, but you should not hold off on submitting other evidence now.

What should your evidence say?

This is not a consultation on the overarching principles of the debate – the Committee’s task is to scrutinise the Bill’s make-up, cause by clause. No-one expects you to be an expert on this bill or in the surrounding policy areas; with no set questions, we advise focusing on a select number of key areas.

Your personal or professional experience may make you well placed to explain why particular provisions in the Bill are inadequate, unworkable, or not properly thought through – for example, healthcare professionals could speak to the difficulty of predicting a six-month life expectancy, while social workers (who are overlooked by the Bill) could talk about difficulties in assessing capacity and coercion.

Non-specialists could highlight the aspect(s) of the Bill they find most startling – for example, the heavy reliance on the role of the High Court despite this being ill-defined and the courts having nowhere near the capacity needed to handle the anticipated workload.

Our briefing may give you a steer, but must not be reproduced verbatim: your submission must be an expression of your own concerns about the work ability of the Bill.

• Read the UK assisted suicide bill (Bill Link). 
• Read the Care Not Killing UK assisted suicide bill briefing (Briefing Link).

Your submission must be sent to tiabill@parliament.uk 

Links to previous articles about the UK assisted suicide bill.

• Assisted suicide is not the answer to the NHS financial crisis (Link).
• The British assisted suicide bill can be defeated (Link).
• The British parliament passes assisted suicide bill at second reading (Link).

Care NOT Killing: Who opposes UK assisted dying bill?

Care NOT Killing update.

Former UK PM Gordon Brown joins the Health and Justice Secretaries, Liberal Democrats leader, disability rights groups, and medical bodies in urging the rejection of the UK assisted dying bill slated to be voted on 29 November 2024.

As the real-world implications shine through, and the "safeguards" in the late-released text of Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill start to unravel, an increasingly broad chorus of opposition and concern has emerged.

Politics

Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown:

"With the NHS still at its lowest ebb, this is not the right time to make such a profound decision. Instead, we need to show we can do better at assisted living before deciding whether to legislate on ways to die." (Guardian, 23 October 2024)

Health Secretary Wes Streeting MP (Labour):

"I am not sure as a country we have the right end-of-life care available to enable a real choice on assisted dying." (Telegraph, 7 September 2024)

He's subsequently made clear that he will vote against the Leadbeater Bill, having voted for the Marris Bill in 2015.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood MP (Labour):

"It cannot be overstated what a profound shift in our culture assisted suicide will herald. In my view, the greatest risk of all is the pressure the elderly, vulnerable, sick or disabled may place upon themselves… The right to die, for some, will - inexorably and inevitably - become the duty to die for others. And that is why I will be voting against this bill." (Observer, 23 November 2024)

Disabled People's Minister Sir Stephen Timms MP (Labour):

"As the party of the vulnerable, the voiceless and the victim, the stories that have emerged from these countries ought to give us significant pause for thought." (Labour List, January 2024)

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner MP (Labour):

Report, Daily Mail 16 November 2024 

Jon Ashworth, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary 2016-2021:

"I worry about the pressure that this would put on people who are in the most desperate of circumstances... I just don't want people feeling that they are a burden or that their time is up." (GB News, 25 November 2024)

The Commons' longest-serving MPs, Sir Edward Leigh and Diane Abbott (Conservative & Labour):

"Our politics could not be more different - but we're united against this dangerous assisted dying bill." (Guardian, 20 November 2024)

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick MP (Conservative):

"Having consulted with members of the judiciary and senior practitioners, there is significant concern that the assisting dying procedure outlined in the Private Member's Bill is unworkable." (Telegraph, 18 November 2024)

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey MP:

"I had to look after my mother when she was terminally ill as a young teenager … she had a very, very painful disease." It was in being there at the end of her life that "I came to the conclusion we should not have this (assisted dying)... we should focus on better palliative care."(Independent, 12 November 2024)

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage MP:

"I look at the way assisted dying is taking place in Canada and frankly, it gives me the shivers." (GB News, 8 November 2024)

Welsh Parliament:

Rejected a motion in support of a change in the law 26-19 in September 2024. 

Former Labour Humanists Chair and Humanists UK Patron Joan Smith:

"There is a woeful lack of knowledge about coercive control, which many women suffer in abusive relationships. Doctors & judges, the latter making decisions about someone they don't know, are unlikely to recognise coercion that's been going on for years." (Post on X, 24 November 2024)

Ann Furedi, former chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service:

"I haven't changed my views on autonomy & individual choice, but I have changed my view on 'assisted dying' and this Bill." (Post on X, 16 November 2024)

Healthcare

Association for Palliative Medicine:

"The APM opposes any change in the law that could lead to the supply or administration of lethal medications to deliberately end a person's life." (Position statement, October 2024)

British Geriatrics Society:

"The BGS commissioned a working group of its members to review the evidence, gather the views of BGS members… and formulate an updated position on Assisted Dying. Following this review, the BGS… is opposed to the legalisation of Assisted Dying and is urging the government to be cautious in proceeding with any change in the law." (Position statement, 8 November 2024)

Royal College of General Practitioners:

Position statement, adopted by Council following a membership consultation.

Eating disorder charity Eat, Breathe, Thrive:

"In the U.S., assisted suicide is only legal for patients with a terminal illness and less than six months to live. Yet, a groundbreaking study shows that some doctors have misrepresented eating disorders as terminal in order to prescribe patients lethal drugs — denying patients and families the chance for life-saving treatment." (Report, 2024)

British Islamic Medical Association:

"Traumatic care experiences, particularly in marginalised communities and those with high socioeconomic deprivation, will contribute to the fear of suffering at the end of life. The solution is not to legislate state-endorsed assisted suicide and euthanasia that is delivered by a healthcare system in crisis." (Position statement, October 2024)

Our Duty of Care:

ODOC's open letter to the Prime Minister has been signed by thousands of healthcare professionals and is still open.

Human rights

Liberty:

"The Assisted Dying Bill has been drafted with the best intentions, but there are serious concerns over how it places disabled people, people of colour and other marginalised communities at risk… Every single part of this Bill has to be the 'gold standard' - silver is simply not good enough. Liberty is calling on MPs to keep this in mind when they vote." (Issue FAQs, 21 November 2024)

Disability Rights UK:

"Giving us dignified and equitable lives should come before putting in place ways of assisting us to die." - Kamran Mallick, Disability Rights UK Chief Executive, The Times 20 November, reinforcing DRUK's new position statement (12 November)

Inclusion London:

"We know many in our society think our lives are not worth living and we see the consequences of this deeply entrenched view in the experience of other countries, such as Canada, where the conditions and criteria for assisted dying quickly become wider than only the terminally ill and now include many different groups of disabled people." (Statement, 8 November 2024)

Not Dead Yet UK (website)

Disabled People Against Cuts:

"There is no straightforward way to legalise AS... There are no clear lines, only blurred boundaries. This is why no [deaf and disabled people's organisation] in the UK is in favour of legalisation. Additionally, all medical bodies remain opposed or neutral on the subjects. Doctors working in specialities such as oncology, geriatrics and palliative care, those where they are most likely to work with dying people, are the most opposed." (November 2024)

Legal experts

Former President of the Family Division of the High Court, Sir James Munby:

"In relation to the involvement of the judges in the process, the Leadbeater Bill falls lamentably short of providing adequate safeguards… Only those who believe implicitly in judicial omniscience and infallibility - and I do not - can possibly have any confidence in the efficacy of what is proposed." (Transparency Project, 14 November 2024)

Former Chief Coroner of England and Wales, Thomas Teague KC:

"Many of the promised safeguards amount to "nothing more than arbitrary restrictions" which would be subject to a "logically inexorable" erosion over time." (Telegraph, 17 November 2024)

Alex Ruck Keene KC, who worked on Noel Conway's legal challenges:

"The thing which increasingly troubled me, and has increasingly troubled me since, is it's not about an individual… That's the thing I think is very difficult in this space to think about. Because you have individual stories which are very, very powerful, and we've got lots of other individual stories out there in the public domain at the moment. But the law can't operate for individuals. The law has to operate for everybody." (The House, 11 November 2024)

Philip Murray, Assistant Professor in Law at Cambridge:

"Once a blanket ban is lifted and assisted suicide is permitted for certain groups and not others, the force of any argument that exclusions from the law are necessary for the protection of vulnerable people becomes inherently weakened." (UK Constitutional Law, 30 October 2024) 

More than 50 teachers and practitioners of law, including 15 KCs:

"The law reports are littered with cases of undue influence and duress, and legalisation would inevitably expose the most vulnerable to that risk." (Observer, 27 October 2024)

Journalism

The Times:

"Even apart from the dangers inherent in the bill, the lack of scrutiny and thought invested in it is cause for concern. It is a bad bill with potentially corrosive consequences." (Leading article, 18 November 2024)

The Telegraph:

"Small wonder… that many MPs appear to lack confidence that this legislation is fit for purpose… When the time comes to debate the Bill, MPs should be wary of rushing into a decision they may regret." (Telegraph View, 17 November 2024)

Sonia Sodha, The Guardian:

"A decade ago, I would have supported assisted dying out of a respect for personal autonomy and a desire to alleviate suffering. Today, I understand these objectives are not standalone but need to be weighed against the impact on those for whom an abstract liberal notion like autonomy is highly simplistic, and the state-sanctioned wrongful deaths that seem to me impossible to avoid." (April 2024, prior to further persuasive articles)

The Morning Star:

"Socialists need to stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable. That means opposing Leadbeater's Bill." (Editorial, 11 October 2024)

And the public? 

• 70% want to see a Royal Commission review palliative care provision before further debate on "assisted dying".
• 61% are concerned that some people would be pressured into having an assisted death if the law changes, including a majority (53%) of those who support a change in the law.
• And 56% of those who expressed an opinion in a June 2024 poll said they supported a change in the law in principle but thought there were too many complicating factors for it to be safely implemented.
  

And you? Ahead of the second reading debate and vote on 29 November, email your MP using our quick and easy online tool.

Great news: Welsh parliament rejects assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Great news. The Wales parliament rejected assisted suicide by a vote of 26 to 19 in a motion on October 23. 

The Kim Leadbeater private members bill that will be debated in the UK is proposed to encompass England and Wales. The Welch parliament rejecting assisted suicide may cause the UK parliament to limit the assisted suicide bill to England.

Dr Gordon Macdonald

Care Not Killing (UK) reported in their October 23 media release that Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO for Care Not Killing stated that:

“This is an encouraging result and proves that the more people, including parliamentarians, hear about implications of legalising state assisted killing the more they reject changing the law, because they see how it would put pressure on the elderly, terminally ill and disabled people to end their lives prematurely. This is exactly what we have seen in the handful of places who have legalised state assisted killing.

Macdonald continued his comments by focusing on abuses of the laws permitting euthanasia and/or assisted suicide in the US State of Oregon, in Belgium and in Canada. He then states:

“At a time when we have seen how broken our health care system is, how one in four Brits who would benefit from palliative care, I would suggest this should be the focus of attention, rather than the constant debate about this dangerous and ideological policy.” 

David Deans and Gareth Lewis reported BBC news that:

Senedd members, including First Minister Eluned Morgan and Health Secretary Jeremy Miles, have voted against a motion calling for a new law to allow assisted dying in Wales and England.

Miles had earlier warned of "huge ramifications" for Wales if the law changed.

More articles on this topic:

• UK's Labour MP's are divided on assisted suicide (Link).
• The UK will soon debate assisted suicide. Canada's euthanasia regime should cause caution (Link).

The UK will debate assisted suicide bill this year.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I am currently in the UK on a speaking tour speaking about Canada's experience with euthanasia (MAiD).

The Care Not Killing Alliance announced on October 3rd that Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said that she will introduce a Private Member’s Bill (she has the first private members bill spot) to instroduce an assisted suicide bill.

The Leadbeater bill has not been released yet. 

There have been several assisted suicide bills debated in the UK over the past few years. The last bill was debated in 2015 which was overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Commons. But sadly times are different after the election of Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

Starmer, the leader of Britain's Labour Party, is a long-time promoter of assisted suicide. During the election Starmer promised that he would introduce a bill and allow a free-vote on assisted suicide. The July 4 election resulted in the Labour Party winning a massive majority with 411 out of 650 parliamentary seats.

After the election Starmer reiterated his support for assisted suicide and promised a free-vote within the year. BBC news reported:

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he remains committed to giving MPs a free vote on assisted dying laws at some point.

The prime minister said he would provide parliamentary time for a vote if a backbench MPs proposed changing the law, but stressed the government had other "priorities for the first year or so".

In the House of Lords, Lord Falconer introduced his private members bill in the second spot. Falconer, who has sponsored previous assisted suicide bills, introduced the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Adults bill on Friday July 26.

I reported on October 2 that Scotland's assisted suicide bill is likely to die a natural death. It is possible that Leadbeaters bill will attempt to legalize assisted suicide in all of the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Britain needs to fully examine Canada's experience with euthanasia and reject it. Hopefully the House of Lords will defeat the Falconer assisted suicide bill.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition will keep you up-to-date on the British assisted suicide bills. We will continue to work with the Care Not Killing Alliance and other groups in the UK that oppose assisted suicide.

UK "citizens' jury" supported legalizing euthanasia, has ties to the euthanasia lobby.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Previous article: Pro-assisted suicide committee (UK) publishes report (Link).

Alex Schadenberg

Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister,  announced that he may fast-track the legalization of euthanasia in the UK. This response came after the release of a pro-euthanasia report from a "citizens' jury" that called for the legization of euthanasia.

On September 12 I published a criticism of the citizens jury report by the Care Not Killing Alliance. One of the criticisms stated (Link to article):

Disappointingly, we note that the Director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics was formerly Director of Compassion in Dying, the charitable arm of Dignity in Dying which campaigns for assisted suicide. Additionally, a leading Council member was previously chair of Compassion in Dying, and the project was funded by a group which has also funded another leading pro-assisted suicide campaign organisation.

It is significant that Danielle Hamm, the director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a former director of Compassion in Dying, which is the charitable arm of the Dignity in Dying the leading euthanasia lobby group in the UK.

It is also significant that A B Charitable Trust which, in the past, funded a Humanist Association euthanasia campaign was the same group to cover the cost of the "citizens jury."

It is also significant that the "citizens' jury" supported child euthanasia.

This is a set-up. Instead of marching our the same old faces offering the same old rhetoric, choose a "jury" of "average" citizens and them to agree to the same old rhetoric.

Will the media let the response of 28 people who were picked by a pro-euthanasia campaign team change the course of history in the UK?

A recent UK poll found that UK citizens believe that there are - too many complicating factors to safely implement a euthansasia law (Link).

Pro-assisted suicide committee (UK) publishes report.

Care Not Killing responds to Nuffield Council on Bioethics disappointing project on assisted suicide and euthanasia

Responding to the news that England’s first Citizens’ Jury on so-called assisted dying will report tomorrow, Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO for Care Not Killing commented: 

“Disappointingly, we note that the Director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics was formerly Director of Compassion in Dying, the charitable arm of Dignity in Dying which campaigns for assisted suicide. Additionally, a leading Council member was previously chair of Compassion in Dying, and the project was funded by a group which has also funded another leading pro-assisted suicide campaign organisation.

“That’s before we get to the selection criteria. A jury in a court of law must be rigorously impartial with no strong views about the case they are judging. This does not appear to be the case with this exercise, indeed, from the methodology which is being published today, two thirds of the panel (65 per cent) were either in favour or strongly in favour of changing the law on assisted suicide and euthanasia before taking any evidence. So, what could have been a serious contribution to this important debate seemingly fails the impartiality test.

“Perhaps this is why the results also run contrary to recent polling carried out under British Polling Council guidelines which concluded that a clear majority (56 per cent) of the public who expressed a view supporting assisted dying/assisted suicide in principle do not believe that the current laws preventing assisted suicide or euthanasia can be implemented safely.”

Dr Gordon Macdonald

The polling, carried out earlier this year by Whitestone Insight also found:

• A majority feel that if assisted dying is legalised in the UK, patients should have the legal right to choose to be treated by doctors and other health professionals who have opted out of participating in it.
• Legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide is not a political priority for most people. Legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide ranked 23 out of 24 of issues that need attention, with “regulating AI” and “international trade deals” ranking higher. Only four per cent thought it should be a priority for politicians. 
• 60 per cent of those surveyed worried that legalising AD/AS would fundamentally change the relationship between doctor and patient, including more than half (51 per cent) of those who support AD/AD. 
• Seven in 10 (70 per cent) said that assistance in dying in countries like Canada and the Netherlands, where young people with no terminal illness are helped to die, has gone too far. This rose to more than eight in 10 (84 per cent) when those who answered ‘don’t know’ were discounted. 
• Young people reject assisted dying/assisted suicide more than do any other age group. Fewer than half (44 per cent) of 18–24-year-olds supported legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide. 
• A clear majority – 56 per cent – voiced fears that legalising assisted suicide would lead to a culture where suicide becomes more normalised than it is today. This rose to 67 per cent when those who answered “don’t know” were omitted. 
• Similarly, 43 per cent fear that introducing assisted suicide when the NHS and Social Care budget is under such pressure would inevitably place an incentive on health professionals to encourage some people to end their lives early.
  

Dr Macdonald concluded: 

“At a time when we see how quickly the safeguards in countries like Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have been eroded so disabled people and those with mental health problems, even eating disorders are now being euthanised, 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. With suicides in the UK being at record levels financial worries and the NHS in crisis, now is not the time to encourage or facilitate more suicides by legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia.” 

For more information please contact Alistair Thompson of Team Britannia PR on: 07970 162225 or by email: alistair@teambritanniapr.com