Assisted dying bill will offer terminally ill "safest" laws in world, MP vows

Kim Leadbeater’s Private Members’ Bill on assisted dying is set to be debated and voted on in the House of Commons for the first time later this month as MPs prepare to grapple with their consciences.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised Labour MPs a free vote, and the division in views between senior ministers has already become clear, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting among those who has indicated he will not vote in favour of introducing assisted dying laws, citing worries that the NHS is not yet ready to implement them safely.

Around 100 Labour MPs are still believed to be undecided on how they will vote, and York Central MP Rachael Maskell is leading a coalition trying to persuade parliamentarians to vote against.

Those against assisted dying have cited concerns about safeguarding vulnerable people from being coerced, and that it could come at the expense of improving palliative care.

But Ms Leadbeater, the MP for Spen Valley, says she has had lengthy consultations with experts and those affected by assisted dying laws in order to write her 40-page Bill, which is expected to be released in draft form this week.

Writing for the House magazine, she said: “It offers hope to those terminally ill people with a clear, informed and settled wish to have a better death, while at the same time protecting all those approaching the end of their life from coercion or pressure to make a decision that isn’t right for them.

“Indeed my bill will contain the strictest protections and safeguards of any legislation anywhere in the world.

“I have been consulting very widely over the past few weeks, mainly because I’m not the sort of person who would embark on a task like this without delving deeply into the issue first.

“But also because I am clear that if we are to have a new law it must be a good law. Both Houses of Parliament have debated this subject many times in the past and I would encourage everyone to look back at those thoughtful and detailed debates as I have done.”

Ms Leadbeater is set to meet Yorkshire families this week who are impacted by laws regarding assisted dying.

Her Bill comes after she won the right to introduce legislation as part of the Private Members Bill ballot earlier this year.

She has already indicated eligibility will depend on how long a patient is expected to have left to live, while both medical and judicial safeguarding is likely to feature in the form of approval from doctors and court scrutiny in each case.

It comes as seven current and former nurses have sent a letter, published by campaign group Dignity in Dying, to MPs – urging them to support the Bill.

The signatories, including two palliative care nurses, a general nurse and a senior nursing assistant, said: “We are joined by a single wish – all of us want choice.”

They added: “For most, palliative care in hospice, hospital or at home will help them have the death that they want.

“But we feel we have to speak up for those for whom palliative care cannot relieve suffering, or provide the peaceful and painless death that everyone deserves.”