Assisted dying: MP behind Bill urges meeting with Archbishop over safeguarding concerns

Kim Leadbeater, MP for Spen Valley in West Yorkshire, introduced the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in Parliament earlier this week, with MPs set to have a first debate and vote at the end of November.

It will mark the first time the issue of assisted dying has been debated in Parliament for over a decade.

An estimated two thirds of the public supports assisted dying being made legal, but opposition has come from religious figures including Justin Welby as well as disability campaigners who have expressed concerns around safeguarding vulnerable people.

Justin Welby told the BBC on Tuesday: “I think this approach is both dangerous and sets us in a direction which is even more dangerous, and in every other place where it’s been done, has led to a slippery slope.”

He was backed by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who revealed to the Yorkshire Post that he would not support the legislation.

In a letter to Justin Welby, Kim Leadbeater reflected on the support the Archbishop had given after her sister Jo Cox’s murder in 2016, and asked to meet with him to discuss the issue around assisted dying more widely.

She wrote: “Your perspective on this issue is important to me. Not least because the moral leadership you showed in the aftermath of my sister's murder was a great comfort to me and my family.

“We both value life unequivocally and I believe it is entirely possible to share that fundamental position while holding different views on whether the law should change to give dying people more autonomy and choice over how their lives end when that end is already very near.

“You raise concerns about a 'slippery slope' but I genuinely believe these are unfounded. If my bill is passed, parliament will have drawn a very clear and settled line that should not be crossed. We have ample evidence from overseas that this can be done.

“I hope it is possible for us - if I may borrow your words - ‘to disagree deeply but not destructively’.

“I know you embrace my sister's belief that ‘we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us’ and as such I would very much like to meet with you to explore the common ground we share.

The Church of England’s clergy voted against principles of changing the law at the General Synod in 2022, but polling by the Times newspaper last year found more than a third of priests questioned would support assisted dying.

The two archbishops are among 25 religious leaders who have voting powers should the Bill progress to the House of Lords.

Kim Leadbeater wrote: “While I respect the sincerity of your views, I would note that there is diversity of thought within the Church of England as there is among people of other faiths. I have had the privilege of speaking to many Christians who value their faith but also desperately want the law to change.

“They feel the law as it stands can compromise a dying person's ability to come to the end of a full and rich life with the same values with which they have lived, including love and compassion."