It would be “a tragedy” if Parliament fails to approve new laws giving terminally ill people the option of ending their life in peace, the MP championing legislation said. Kim Leadbeater said: “What worries me is that if the Bill doesn’t pass the conversation ends, and that would be really dreadful for so many people.” Her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will be debated again in the House of Commons on April 25 following a lengthy committee process which saw a smaller group of MPs consider the legislation in detail and make a series of changes.
Critics of the legislation claim some of the amendments weaken protections designed to stop vulnerable people being pressured into ending their lives. But supporters insist the proposed law now has more safeguards than in November last year, when it was backed in a vote of MPs with 330 in favour and 275 against. Ms Leadbeater, who won the opportunity to introduce legislation after topping a ballot of backbench MPs, said: “It would be such a tragedy if it was another 10 years before this subject was revisited, And that’s why I think we have a duty as Parliamentarians to change the law now.”
She was backed by Sir Max Hill, a former director of public prosecutions, who told a Westminster press conference that the assisted dying Bill was a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to bring about much-needed change.
He said: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a once-in-a-generation opportunity, for parliamentarians of 2025 to say that – with all respect to where their predecessors were 60 years ago – they have found a better way which is going to improve the outcome for some of the most vulnerable people in society.”
MPs are to be given information packs by the Bill’s supporters in an attempt to convince them that changes introduced since the November vote make the legislation better.
One key difference is that a panel including a psychiatrist and social worker will now consider each application for assisted dying. This is in addition to a commissioner appointed by the Prime Minister, who will be a high court judge or retired judge.
Critics have seized on the fact that this replaces the original plan for each application to be considered by a High Court judge in court.
Other changes include ensuring that doctors who discuss assisted dying with patients also highlight other options such as palliative care, which involves making patients as comfortable as possible and reducing the pain they might suffer at the end of their life.
The bill has also been amended to provide independent advocates for people with learning difficulties or autism.
In addition, doctors will receive extra training designed to help them spot when patients are victims of abuse or acting under pressure.
The DailyExpress crusade Give Us Our Last Rights has been a leading voice for more than three years in the battle to legalise assisted dying for the terminally ill.
The Westminster event heard from Lesley Storey, head of Middlesbrough domestic abuse charity My Sister’s Place, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year. She said that after her diagnosis she decided to “save every penny” to ensure she had the option of travelling to a foreign country where assisted dying is already legal.
But she warned that forcing people to use services such as Dignitas in Switzerland actually shortened lives. “For a lot of people it means they actually have to leave much earlier because you have to leave when you are well,” she said.
Conservative former Cabinet Minister Andrew Mitchell, who is backing the law change, said he was “adamantly opposed” to assisted dying when he became an MP. But he said: “I have completely changed my mind as a result of meeting constituents who have persuaded me. I have listened, often with tears streaming down my face, to the most terrible stories and I am absolutely convinced of the rightness of what we are seeking to do.
“Its something I would want, not just for my constituents but also for those I love and maybe one day for myself as well.”
Highlighting opposition to the Bill, Mr Mitchell said: “The biggest hurdles probably still lie ahead.”