Campaigners have called for the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill to be withdrawn after an explosive leaked report suggests Labour planned to introduce assisted suicide by a Private Members’ Bill, similar to Kim Leadbeater’s, before the election.
Published in the Guardian yesterday, the document reportedly proposed a change “strikingly similar” to Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill currently at Committee Stage in the House of Lords.
According to the Guardian, the leaked document, written before the 2024 election, says a government bill would carry more risks if Labour were to take ownership of the issue and that the parameters of any bill could be “influenced heavily through the PMB process if we are lending government support”.
A Labour source who opposes the Bill said the leak exposed “a shadow policymaking process, outside of the Labour manifesto, and with no consultation with MPs, unions or members, that sought to evade scrutiny on an issue of huge importance”.
“At a time when the Lords are being told democracy requires them to nod this bill through, it is now clear that the process in the Commons bypassed the usual processes for developing laws of this magnitude and that everyone has been misled about the nature and origin of the bill”.
“It’s bitterly disappointing that No 10 have sought to use the machinery of government and other parties as cover on an issue that needs more scrutiny, not less”.
Leak indicates Labour planned to “control the parameters” of the assisted suicide Bill
The document, drafted in November 2023, makes 11 references to the pro-assisted suicide campaign group Dignity in Dying, and warns there would be “strong, impactful campaigns in favour of assisted dying during the general election campaign” and that the Labour party needed to set out its position.
The leak reportedly said it was “necessary to reach a position on how we approach legalisation of assisted dying”, and made reference to polling, which indicated a degree of public support.
The document said the Party was neutral on the issue, with the leak warning that it was “unlikely to sustain us through an election campaign where there are strong campaigns advocating for us to adopt a clearer position”.
“We could choose to do nothing, but this is an option that fails to recognise public opinion and which campaigners argue leads hundreds of people to take matters into their own hands and puts relatives who help their loved ones at risk of prosecution”.
It also warned that not to act would “show Labour as unable to take a position on difficult issues or face challenges head on”.
The leak uses the “warmest” language, according to the Guardian, about the possibility of using a PMB to move the issue forward, “allowing all members of the house a free, conscience vote on a cross-party matter”.
“We also know we can control the parameters of legislation carefully through working with advocacy groups and government civil servants to draft the legislation and provide conditions for parliamentary time”, the document reportedly says.
The Prime Minister’s support for assisted suicide is well known, and he has consistently voted in favour of it.
Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, Chief Executive of Right To Life UK, a charity that opposes the introduction of assisted suicide and euthanasia, and campaigns instead for greater investment in palliative care, said “If these reports are true, the Government has misled MPs, Peers and the public about the Bill. The Bill must be withdrawn immediately, as it constitutes an abuse of parliamentary process for the Government to use a Private Members’ Bill to push through its own agenda, while claiming neutrality. Voters were not told that voting Labour would mean voting for a Government-backed assisted suicide law”.
“Only last week, the Government took the highly irregular step of adding seven additional sitting Fridays for the Bill after Christmas, including when the House of Lords was due to be in recess, to try to rush it through, further casting doubts on its impartiality. How many other genuine Private Members’ Bills have been denied time because the Government has seemingly clogged up the process with an assisted suicide Bill mired in controversy and widely deemed unfit for purpose?”
