Assisted dying bill splits UK cabinet ahead of vote

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet is split over the assisted dying bill, which will face its first vote in parliament on Friday, after a string of high-profile figures including former UK prime minister Gordon Brown made interventions on the divisive topic.

Starmer, who has previously said he is “personally in favour of changing the law” on assisted dying but has not publicly voiced an opinion on this particular bill, has committed to giving MPs a free vote on the issue. This means they are not whipped by their party to vote a particular way.

Seven members of the cabinet have so far said they support the bill: Liz Kendall, Lisa Nandy, Hilary Benn, Ed Miliband, Peter Kyle, Louise Haigh and Jo Stevens. 

Work and pensions secretary Kendall told the BBC on Sunday that she believed the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill had the “right safeguards” and added: “I believe in giving people as much power, say and control as possible over the things that matter to them the most.”

Four cabinet ministers have said they oppose it: Shabana Mahmood, Bridget Phillipson, Jonathan Reynolds and Wes Streeting.

A poll of more than 17,000 people by More in Common over the weekend found that 65 per cent of the public supported assisted dying, while 13 per cent opposed it and 22 per cent were undecided. 

There were only seven constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland out of 632 where more people opposed the legislation than supported it, according to the poll.

A greater number of Labour MPs have announced that they support the bill than oppose it: 61 are publicly in favour, 32 are publicly against and 63 have said they are undecided, according to a list compiled by the new site LabourList.

On Friday, former prime minister Brown said he was opposed to the bill, arguing instead for a commission into end of life care. He said the debate was moving too fast in light of the “profound ethical and practical issues” at stake. 

Two of the longest-serving MPs in parliament — Diane Abbott and Sir Edward Leigh — shared similar views last week, arguing that the legislation was too rushed and if passed, vulnerable minorities who often face the worst end-of-life care could be disproportionately affected.

Proponents of the legislation, however, say it has been drafted exceptionally carefully and offers the most stringent safeguards of any legislation of its kind anywhere in the world.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater — who has put forward the private members’ bill — received support in drafting it from Elizabeth Gardiner, who was the government’s most senior legislative drafter until she stood down from the role in April this year.

Leadbeater’s bill would give people the opportunity to end their own life only if they were terminally ill with six months or less to live, and would exclude those with disabilities and mental illness.

The most legally stringent provision of the bill sets out that an application would have to be approved by a High Court judge. 

It also states that two independent doctors would have to agree that a person met all of the necessary criteria in order to end their life, and that any lethal medication would be self-administered.

Assisted dying is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years for anyone helping someone to die.

Frank Vandenbroucke, deputy prime minister of Belgium, where assisted dying is legal, said that euthanasia had accounted for about 3 per cent of deaths over the past few years.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, he rebutted claims that “strict” legislation like that being presented in the UK would act as a “slippery slope” to further liberalisation of assisted dying, saying that had not happened in Belgium or the Netherlands.