Assisted dying could be made legal as Parliament is set to vote on whether the terminally ill should be allowed help to end their lives.
A bill will be introduced in the House of Lords next Friday to legalise assisted dying for adults of sound mind who have less than six months to live
The Private Members’ Bill, put forward by Lord Falconer, was selected in a ballot today and will be voted on in the coming months.
Keir Starmer has said that he personally wants assisted dying to be legalised. Ahead of the election, he pledged to allow a free vote on changing the law. If the bill is passed by the Lords, he has suggested he will make time for MPs to vote on it.
Campaigners including Dame Esther Rantzen want there to be a change in the law. The 84-year-old veteran broadcaster, who has lung cancer, has said she is considering travelling to Switzerland for an assisted death.
But opponents fear assisted dying would weaken society’s respect for the sanctity of life and put pressure on the vulnerable.
Lord Falconer, who is a former Lord Chancellor, put forward a similar bill in 2013 that was passed by peers but was abandoned when the 2015 election was called. The Labour peer has previously argued that “the law is an absolute mess and totally lacks compassion” and it is “so urgently time for a change”.
The issue was last voted on in the Commons in 2015, when a separate Private Members’ Bill was defeated by 330 votes to 118.
Helping someone to end their life is a criminal offence in England and Wales, which carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 14 years in jail.
Following his election win, Mr Starmer last weekend confirmed that he would allow there to be a vote on the issue if a Private Members’ Bill was put forward. Speaking to reporters as he flew to a Nato summit in Washington DC, the PM said: “What I said was that we would provide time for this, obviously by way of a Private Members’ Bill, and there will be a free vote, that remains my position. I’m not going back on the commitment I made… we will allow time for a Private Members’ Bill, and there will be a free vote.”
Andrew Copson of Humanists UK argued the change in the law should not be restricted to the terminally ill. He said: “Allowing people to choose the manner and moment of their own death should be seen as the hallmark of a compassionate society and recognised as a basic human right. As a first step towards a kinder, inclusive, and more dignified law on assisted dying, we welcome the introduction of this bill.”
But Catherine Robinson of Right To Life UK said: “There is currently a major gap in the provision of palliative care services in the United Kingdom. It is estimated that over 100,000 people who need palliative care die each year without receiving it. The UK needs properly funded high-quality palliative care for those at the end of their life, not assisted suicide.”