Date confirmed for first Commons debate on assisted dying for a decade

Assisted dying will be debated and voted on in the House of Commons next month, for the first time for almost a decade.

MPs will be able to make their opinions known in the Commons on the controversial subject when they debate the bill on choice at the end of life for people with terminal illness on November 29.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill (PMB) is due to be formally introduced in Parliament on Wednesday.

Details of the legislation will be published ahead of the first full debate and vote next month, the MP’s office said.

The news comes a day after Ms Leadbeater and campaigners gathered outside the Houses of Parliament before meeting MPs to discuss the proposed bill.

Speaking to the PA news agency, the MP for Spen Valley said she wanted to meet families with experience of what she described as a “really, really important issue”, to ensure their voices are heard.

She said: “What they show through their stories is that the current law is not fit for purpose.

“We’ve got a duty as legislators to make robust laws that are fit for society, and at the moment this situation just isn’t.”

She has called for a “thorough, compassionate and respectful debate about what needs to be done”.

Opponents to changing the law have argued some people could feel pressured to have an assisted death against their will, and have called for more focus on improving and ensuring equal access to palliative care.

But while details of the bill have not yet been set out, Ms Leadbeater has rejected this argument and has pledged to consult widely about what should be in the legislation.

She has previously insisted it “will not undermine calls for improvements to palliative care, nor will it conflict with the rights of people with disabilities to be treated equally and have the respect and support they are absolutely right to campaign for in order to live fulfilling lives”.

High-profile supporters of change include Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill with cancer and has spoken out strongly on the issue since revealing in December that she has joined the Swiss Dignitas clinic.

Assisting someone to end their life is against the law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and while it is not a specific criminal offence in Scotland, assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.

A bill is currently being considered at Holyrood that, if passed, would give terminally ill adults in Scotland the right to request help to end their life.

Ms Leadbeater’s bill would cover England and Wales only.

MPs still need to approve the motion outlining the Friday sitting dates – the first of which is November 29 – but this is expected to be a formality.

Former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer of Thoroton, whose Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill had been due to be debated in the House of Lords in mid-November, has confirmed he will no longer go ahead with it in light of Ms Leadbeater’s bill.

An assisted dying bill was defeated in the Commons in 2015 and a separate one was blocked in the Lords in 2021.

Published: 10/10/2024 by Radio NewsHub