Assisted dying debate ought to solely come after hospice and care modifications, says Andy Burnham
Andy Burnham said that palliative and social care needs to be properly funded before the UK can decide whether to legalise assisted dying – an issue set to return to Parliament later this year
Pro-assisted dying campaigners outside Parliament in June last year(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Andy Burnham has said palliative care and social care must be properly funded before assisted dying is considered again.
The Prime Minister said it is “challenging” to push for the controversial law change while people are not getting the care they need in hospices and across the care sector. Last year MPs backed the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, only for the legislation to fail to pass the House of Lords.
Labour backbencher Lauren Edwards has set out an almost idenitical bill which MPs will vote on in the coming months. Asked for his view during a Q&A session at a North London care home, Mr Burnham said: “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.
“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.
“That’s the way I kind of see this, and that’s the position that I will stick to.” In 2015 Mr Burnham abstained from a vote on a Bill to legalise assisted dying. But in 2024 he told BBC Manchester he would “probably vote in favour of it”.
He revealed he had family experience in the nine years since that had changed his view. And he stated: “I think we do allow people to suffer and families to suffer too much.”
In 2024 he said funding for hospices needed to be addressed before any law change, stating: “Consequently, you can’t have this law change with an underfunded hospice movement.”
Last year MPs backed a Bill that would allow terminally ill people expected to live for less than six months to end their lives. The legislation, spearheaded by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater, required the approval of doctors and legal professionals.
Supporters argued the law change was long overdue, providing a legal way for people to end their lives rather than suffer in their final months. But critics questioned safeguards and warned disabled people could face disproportionate pressure.
The Labour government under Keir Starmer did not take a position on the Bill, allowing MPs to vote as a matter of conscience. In June last year it passed the Commons with a majority of 314 votes to 291.
But it failed to pass by the end of the Parliamentary session after peers put forward hundreds of amendments in the House of Lords.
Dave Sowry, who chairs pressure group My Death, My Decision, criticised the PM’s comments. Mr Sowry, whose wife Christy lived with multiple sclerosis and travelled to Dignitas Switzerland to end her life in 2022, said:“I spent years caring for my wife, so I do not need convincing of the importance of properly funded social care. I also know that good care, however compassionate, cannot answer every fear or relieve all suffering…
“Presenting these as alternatives misunderstands what dying people and their families are asking for. We need better care, but we also need honesty about its limits. Funding one should never be made a condition of debating the other.”
Following Mr Burnham’s comments, campaign group Dignity in Dying – which is calling for the law change – said: “The PM is right to highlight that too many people are being let down by our health and care systems. So too are dying people, under a ban on assisted dying that both the public and MPs agree is forcing people to endure unimaginable suffering as they die, or take drastic actions at home and abroad with no upfront safeguards. Improving health and social care is essential, but will not remove the need for choice at the end of life.
“The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is the opportunity to change that. Parliament began the process of reforming this cruel, outdated law but was scuppered by a handful of unelected Lords intent on blocking change by any means necessary. Their action was an insult to our democracy. As the Bill returns in September, there is the chance to finish what we started and Parliament must grip it with both hands. “
But Labour MP Jess Asato said: “Most MPs concerned about the Assisted Dying Bill have always been clear that their concerns aren’t about the principle, but the practical implications. We have a responsibility to consider the safety of introducing such a flawed Bill into a broken and failing care system.
“There can be no meaningful choice and no dignity at the end of life if we don’t have a palliative care system that provides basic support for the vulnerable and an affordable social care system that gives everyone dignity at the end of their lives. It’s really welcome that the PM recognises this and has committed the Government to fixing our broken social care system.”
Earlier this month Ms Edwards told The Mirror: “This is unfinished business for parliament. When a small minority of peers in the House of Lords prevented the bill from passing earlier this year it came as a huge disappointment to all those terminally ill people and their families who are depending on parliament to give them the safe and compassionate choice they deserve. We cannot let them down again. MPs have already voted in favour of this long-overdue change to the law.
“By publishing the bill again, I am simply asking my colleagues in the elected chamber to return it to the Lords so they can finish their proper task of scrutinising and revising it in the usual way.”
