The MP behind the assisted suicide Bill being voted on tomorrow has suggested that fear of being a burden could be a “legitimate reason” to seek an assisted suicide.
As MPs prepare to vote on Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill tomorrow, Leadbeater’s comments have caused concern about the strength of the safeguards in her Bill.
Speaking on The News Agents podcast, when asked about the possibility of a patient requesting assistance in suicide because they felt they were a burden, Leadbeater said that “there is an argument that having personal choice and autonomy is part of the whole process”.
“I mean, there are people who have said to me – I think my mum would probably say this to me – ‘but surely being concerned about being a burden is a legitimate reason as well, in terms of…?”, she added.
“I know I wouldn’t want to be a burden to people, I can say that to you now in the clear light of day. But that’s very different to people saying, ‘I’m doing this because I feel like I’m being a burden’”.
The Labour MP Rachael Maskel criticised these comments telling The Telegraph that “The subtleties of societal coercion are not grasped in these comments, where someone can believe that not to opt for an assisted death is a selfish act. This is especially so in a society where assisted suicide is normalised, often described as a ‘duty to die’”.
Former PMs speak out against assisted suicide Bill
Baroness Theresa May, Prime Minister between 2016 and 2019, is expected to vote against the Bill. The Telegraph reports that sources close to May said her opposition to assisted suicide legislation has not changed since she voted against it in 2015.
Liz Truss said she was “completely opposed” to the Bill. “It is wrong in principle: organs of the state like the NHS and the judicial system should be protecting lives, not ending them”.
“No doubt, as we have seen in Canada, vulnerable people would be put under appalling pressure to end their lives early. The law would be ripe for being exploited by the unscrupulous. MPs should vote this terrible Bill down and instead focus on improving health services”, she said.
According to reports, Boris Johnson would not support Leadbeater’s current assisted suicide Bill.
In an intervention last week, Gordon Brown, the previous Labour PM before Starmer, said the debate on assisted suicide is moving too quickly and instead a “fully funded, 10-year strategy for improved and comprehensive palliative care” should be set up.
Labour Cabinet divided on assisted suicide
The Health Secretary has been outspoken in his opposition to the Bill set to be voted on this Friday. Earlier this month, he ordered a review of the costs of implementing assisted suicide if Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill is passed later this month, warning of a “chilling” scenario in which patients are pressured into ending their lives, and saying assisted suicide would “come at the expense of other choices”.
“I would hate for people to opt for assisted dying because they think they’re saving someone somewhere money, whether that’s relatives or the NHS. And I think that’s one of the issues that MPs are wrestling with as they decide how to cast their vote”, he said.
Speaking to reporters at the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool, when asked about Leadbeater’s Bill he said “Now that we’ve seen the bill published, I’ve asked my department to look at the costs that would be associated with providing a new service to enable assisted dying to go forward”.
“That work is now under way, so I can’t give you a precise figure today. You do touch on… the potential for cost savings if people choose to opt for assisted dying rather than stay in the care of providers or the NHS. I think that is a chilling slippery slope argument”.
Delivering assisted suicide would “come at the expense of other competing pressures and priorities”, he added.
Fellow Cabinet Minister Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has also been outspoken in her opposition to the assisted suicide Bill.
Mahmood voted against making assisted suicide legal in 2015 and she has remained a vocal opponent of assisted suicide. In July this year, she said, “I don’t intend to support it”.
“I know some MPs who support this issue think, ‘For God’s sake, we’re not a nation of granny killers, what’s wrong with you’… [But] once you cross that line, you’ve crossed it forever. If it becomes the norm that at a certain age or with certain diseases, you are now a bit of a burden… that’s a really dangerous position”.
It is also understood that Angela Rayner and the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, as well as Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds have all indicated they will not vote in favour of the Bill either.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Leadbeater’s comments about being a burden indicate the despair at the heart of assisted suicide. Such legislation implicitly tells people who are thought to be terminally ill that there is no hope, and that they might be better off if they ended their own life”.
“People at the end of their lives should not be facilitated in suicide. They should be facilitated in living through excellent palliative care”.
