MP criticises progress of assisted dying bill

The MP who introduced a bill looking to legalise assisted dying has labelled the delay in bringing in the legislation as "undemocratic".

Last year MPs voted by a majority of 55 to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales expected to die within six months to seek help to end their own life.

However, it has since stalled in the House of Lords and is now unlikely to pass.

Speaking as more than 100 Labour MPs urged Sir Keir Starmer to ensure there is time for a decision to be reached, Spen Valley MP Kim Leadbeater said: "It just feels fundamentally undemocratic and wrong that a relatively small number of unelected peers in the House of Lords can block this legislation."

Proposed legislation that has not been introduced by the government must pass all its parliamentary stages before the end of each session, which usually last between one and two years.

If it runs out of time, the legislation typically fails.

Supporters now believe it is "effectively impossible" for the bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales to pass before the end of this session, expected in May.

This is largely because more than 1,200 amendments have been tabled in the House of Lords, principally from opponents to the legislation.

With only three of 14 days of debate in the Lords remaining, around half of the amendments are yet to be discussed.

Leadbeater told BBC Radio Leeds it was "undemocratic" that the process was being held up in the House of Lords, which exists to scrutinise the work of government and recommend changes to proposed legislation.

She said: "There are people who genuinely want to put changes in there to what they believe are ways of safeguarding the bill, but ultimately there are people who are just fundamentally opposed to a change in the law."

Dee Cowburn, whose daughter, Tilly, has Rett syndrome - a rare genetic disorder that means she requires round-the-clock care - said she was "happy" with the delay due to her concerns over a lack of safeguards for vulnerable people.

"It's not enough to say 'it won't go wrong'. How do they know?" she said.

"You have got children like Tilly who are going to be vulnerable to being pulled into assisted dying when they are older."

Dee, from Yeadon, in Leeds said she could understand why people supported the bill, but called for "a really robust plan" in the new law around safeguarding children and young people with life-limiting conditions.

On the other end of the debate, assisted dying supporter Pauline McLeod said she was "very worried" about the prospect of assisted dying legislation failing.

"The implications of that are horrendous," she said.

Pauline's late spouse, Ian, was living with motor neurone disease (MND) before he died in 2023 after refusing food and drink.

Ian had tried to take his own life one year before his death due to his deteriorating state, said Pauline, from Sheriff Hutton in North Yorkshire.

"It's never nice, especially to see someone diminish in that way," she said.

"If he had a choice I think we would have had a completely different last three years together without all the stress and the anxiety.

"If he would have had that choice, it would have given him huge peace of mind."

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