'No pressure' on MPs over assisted dying vote says Starmer, as Leadbeater insists Bill is 'robust'
The bill details that the person who wants to end their life must be able to take the lethal drug themselves, Good Morning Britain reports
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not put pressure on MPs ahead of the assisted dying bill, insisting they must “make their own mind up”.
The bill, published in full on Monday night, says terminally ill people with less than six months left to live would need two doctors and a high court judge to sign off their assisted death.
MPs will debate the bill at the end of the month, marking the first time assisted dying has been debated and voted on in the Commons in almost a decade.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who put forward the bill, said it would be "the most robust piece of legislation in the world".
Opposition campaigners have raised concerns that some could be coerced into an assisted death or that legalisation could be a slippery slope to taking in more people who are not terminally ill.
But Leadbeater has rejected those concerns saying the bill has “three layers of scrutiny” in the form of a sign-off by two doctors and a High Court judge, and would make coercion an offence with a possible punishment of 14 years in jail.
At a Westminster briefing on Tuesday she urged those on the fence or undecided to put "families' lived experiences at the heart of the debate", as she warned the options currently available for terminally ill adults in the UK are "not fit for practice".
The MP said some adults "in their dying days feel they have no other option than to end their own lives" or travel to a different country where assisted death is legal - "but only if they can afford to do so".
"No matter how good the palliative care they receive is, they have a horrible, harrowing death, which is not only dreadful for them as individuals but it's also deeply traumatic for their families," Leadbeater told the briefing.
"Once you meet families that have had that experience - whether that is a harrowing death, an assisted death abroad, or someone taking their own lives, you realise very clearly that this cannot go on."
A debate and first vote are expected to take place on November 29, and the bill would only apply to England and Wales.
However, Leadbeater said "it's not going to happen overnight" and will like take about six months before it goes to Parliament.
Starmer 'will study the details of the bill' with 'no pressure' on MPs
The prime minister, when asked how he'd vote on the bill at Cop29 in Baku, said "obviously it is a very important question on which views differ, strongly-held views on either side".
“When I was chief prosecutor I was involved in drawing up guidelines, we had a massive consultation exercise and I saw first-hand the depth and the strength of the arguments on both sides," he continued.
“That is why this will be a free vote and it will be a free vote where every MP can decide for themselves what position they want to take on the bill.
“I will not be putting pressure on any MP to vote one way or the other. I personally will study the details of the bill which has now been published today because safeguards have always been extremely important to me and were an essential part of the guidelines that I drew up when I was chief prosecutor.”
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Starmer has previously supported assisted dying, telling retired presenter Dame Esther Rantzen in a phone call that he was "personally in favour of changing the law," ITV News revealed in March.
He has been cautious to not express his personal view on the issue since becoming prime minister and assured that the government will remain neutral.
Rantzen, who is terminally ill, described the bill as "wonderful," but said that it will likely come into effect too late for her.
She also acknowledged that its narrow criteria will not help those suffering from unbearable pain and distress due to chronic illness.
'I'm still haunted by their deaths'
Nathaniel Dye, 38, who has terminal bowel cancer, told the Westminster briefing an assisted dying law would offer people a choice “at their darkest hour” and believes it will save families some of the trauma of watching relatives have a drawn-out painful death.
He shared his own experiences watching his mother and fiancée die of cancer, adding: "I'm still haunted by their deaths."
"I see this bill as a chance for people in my situation to be able to commit one last act of kindness to their family, he added, "and I guess to myself as well, to say can we avoid this horrific death? Can we make my end as kind and compassionate as possible?"
Mr Dye, who has previously shared his experience of terminal cancer at Labour Party events, criticised suggestions that improvements to palliative care were the answer at an assisted dying press conference.
“Imagine I am dying and palliative care hasn’t improved. Well, I have no choice whatsoever: I die in pain or I die in pain,” he said.
“I see this as a chance just to act with kindness and a choice for people at their darkest hour," Mr Dye added.
“I am not a doctor, I am not a lawyer, but I would just implore MPs and peers to really carefully consider these safeguards because I think it is the best phrase I have got: my very death depends on it.”
'A disaster in waiting'
Health Secretary Wes Streeting voiced his fears about coercion when he said last month he worries “about those people who think they’ve almost got a duty to die to relieve the burden on their loved ones”.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has previously said she will oppose the bill, saying she has an “unshakeable belief in the sanctity and value of human life”.
Right To Life UK called the proposed legislation “a disaster in waiting," saying it will be a “monumental change to our laws”.
Campaign group Our Duty Of Care, representing doctors and nurses, has sent a letter to Starmer arguing it is “impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include protection from coercion and future expansion”.
Who could qualify for assisted dying under the new bill?
There are several requirements for someone to be eligible under the proposed law:
The person must be a legal adult – aged 18 or older – and be resident in England and Wales and registered with a GP for at least 12 months.
They must have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish – free from coercion or pressure – to end their life.
They must be terminally ill and be expected to die within six months.
They must make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die.
The process must involve two independent doctors being satisfied the person is eligible and the medics can consult a specialist in the person’s condition and get an assessment from an expert in mental capacity if deemed necessary.
A High Court judge must hear from at least one of the doctors regarding the application and can also question the dying person as well as anyone else they consider appropriate.
There must be at least seven days between the two doctors making their assessments and a further 14 days after the judge has made a ruling, for the person to have a period of reflection on their decision.
For someone whose death is expected imminently, the 14-day period could be reduced to 48 hours.
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