Submission guide

Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill is now at what is known as Committee Stage, where a group of 23 MPs will scrutinise the Bill in detail.

The House of Commons Public Bill Committee that is considering this Bill has recently initiated a call for written evidence, inviting people with appropriate expertise or personal experience to submit evidence concerning the Bill and its proposals.

It is very important that the many problems with the Bill are brought to the attention of the Committee so MPs understand the major problems with introducing assisted suicide and that they must vote against the Bill when it comes to Third Reading later in the year.

Please submit evidence if either of the following applies to you:

• You have experience in an appropriate area of expertise that relates to the Bill e.g. healthcare, social or hospice care, psychiatry, social work, law.
• You have a personal story that would be helpful for MPs to hear. This might involve your experience of end-of-life care or terminal illness diagnoses with a loved one, a person changing their mind about a wish to die, misdiagnoses, disability, a sudden improvement in pain relief, experience of assisted suicide laws in other countries, issues concerning coercion and mental capacity, suicide prevention etc.

If you do not fall into either of these categories, then please do not submit written evidence to the Committee but please look out for future emails from Catherine Robinson where she will let you know about further opportunities to take action in relation to the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill. Please also share this submission guide with any contacts concerned about the Bill who fit into either of the above categories.

If you are able to submit evidence, please note the following:

• Please be polite and use measured language.
• Where relevant, please include your qualifications/area of expertise.
• Please refrain from using religious arguments, which are less likely to be effective with MPs on the Committee, but refer instead to medical, legal and practical concerns.
• Please use arguments that relate to the Bill itself (which would permit assisted suicide for terminally ill people with six or fewer months left to live) rather than assisted suicide in general.
• Please write in a personal capacity using your own words, rather than citing Right To Life UK.

The Committee has specified how submissions should be made. Please read its guidelines carefully but key points include:

• Submissions should be emailed to tiabill@parliament.uk
• Submissions should be in the form of a Word document. A summary should be provided and the submission dated. Paragraphs should be numbered.
• Submissions should not exceed 2,000 words.
• Please include your name, address, telephone number and email address in the covering email.
• Most submissions will be published online. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so and explain your reasons.