Labour MP, Lauren Edwards, is being called on to bring forward a Private Members’ Bill that would unite her constituency, the Labour Party, Parliament and the country, rather than an assisted suicide Bill that would be divisive, distracting and likely be defeated.
Lauren Edwards has said she intends to reintroduce Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill, which would ignite a civil war in the Labour Party. However, Edwards does not have to formally present her Private Members’ Bill in the House of Commons until lunchtime on Wednesday, 17 June.
Return of Bill would cause division in the Labour Party at the worst possible time
A new assisted suicide Bill would distract Labour from focusing on core priorities, undermining any attempted political reset after the local elections, and cause a major headache for Andy Burnham if he becomes Prime Minister.
Last night, several Labour MPs took to X to point out that bringing back the assisted suicide Bill would fuel the flames of current tensions in the Labour Party, causing further division, at the worst possible time. This included Adam Jogee, David Smith, Rupa Huq, Ian Byrne and Kirsteen Sullivan. Other MPs including Ashley Dalton, Emma Lewell, Antonia Bance, Allison Gardner, Daniel Francis, and Andrew Pakes, alongside Labour Peers Luciana Berger and Barbara Keeley have all also expressed serious concern about the return of the Bill.
Still more Labour MPs have reposted the concerns of their colleagues, including Chi Onwurah, Jess Asato, Mary Glindon, Melanie Ward and Patrick Hurley, as well as former Labour rebel Karl Turner, who predicted defeat for a new Bill, making the division this Bill will cause pointless. Former Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Rosie Duffield have also opposed the return of the Bill.
A new Bill would likely be defeated as cross-party MPs who supported the assisted suicide Bill now oppose it being forced through via the Parliament Acts
Given only 12 MPs would need to change their minds should a new Bill be introduced, and any new vote would likely become a referendum on the use of the Parliament Acts as well as on the flawed Bill itself, this strongly suggests any MP picking up the Bill would be defeated.
Since MPs last debated the Bill in the House of Commons last year, it has been widely criticised by expert groups at a House of Lords select committee, and Scotland has decisively rejected assisted suicide.
Already, 7 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who had backed the Bill at Third Reading have said they do not support plans to force it into law via the Parliament Acts / bringing back the Bill in this new Parliamentary session (Louise Haigh, Jeremy Hunt, Deidre Costigan, Richard Foord, Alistair Carmichael, Peter Bedford and Will Forster).
These 7 MPs have been joined by other MPs who have expressed doubts that the Parliament Acts route would be used for the Bill.
These MPs are likely to be the tip of the iceberg and represent views shared by many other MPs.
Given the ongoing turmoil in the Labour Party and the fact that 58% of Labour MPs voted for the Bill at Third Reading in 2025 and 42% (160 Labour MPs, including Cabinet Ministers) voted against it, it is likely that many MPs do not want to bring back a controversial Bill that would cause division and distract from other priorities, while also leading to a backlash from constituents, when it would likely fail.
If the Bill is brought forward, it is likely that the number of Labour MPs opposing the Bill would increase, since a similar Bill has recently been rejected in Scotland, where, strikingly, 85% of Labour MSPs (17/20) opposed the Bill and many new intake Labour MPs likely voted for the Bill previously because of the support of Keir Starmer early on in their parliamentary careers.
Recent polling has suggested that more MPs would oppose the assisted suicide Bill than could be relied upon to back it if the Bill were revived in this parliamentary session.
The polling, which was carried out by Whitestone Insight, found that only 41% of MPs surveyed can definitely be relied upon to vote “Aye” again, while 45% said they would continue to vote “No”, suggesting that if the legislation were put to a vote today, it would likely be rejected by the House of Commons.
The Parliament Acts have only been used a handful of times, seven times since 1911, for Government legislation, and never for a Private Members’ Bill like Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill.
It would be extraordinary for the Acts to be invoked for a bill that passed the Commons by a narrow margin, with fewer than 50% of MPs voting for it at Third Reading, and which was not in the Government’s manifesto.
As Nikki da Costa, former Director of Legislative Affairs at 10 Downing Street, has pointed out, using the Parliament Acts route would mean the Bill would have to be brought back in an essentially identical form to the version already passed by MPs in the previous session, and could not be amended in the House of Commons or House of Lords.
That makes it impossible to fix the flaws, many of which have been flagged by Royal Colleges, in the Bill if the Parliament Acts route is used.
MRP poll shows no public mandate in any constituency in Great Britain for reviving the failed Bill
An MRP poll of over 10,000 people, the largest public poll conducted on assisted suicide since Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill was introduced in October 2024, has shown that there is no mandate from the public to revive the failed Leadbeater Bill and circumvent the House of Lords to push it into law.
Full details on this polling, including constituency-level results for Lauren Edwards’ constituency, are available in this press release from The Other Half here.
Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, CEO of Right To Life UK, said “Lauren Edwards can still change course and introduce a Bill that would unite her constituency, the Labour Party, Parliament and the country, rather than a Bill that would be divisive, distracting and likely be defeated”.
“Using the Parliament Acts to force through a controversial Private Members’ Bill that was not in the Government’s election manifesto would be unprecedented and unacceptable. It is striking that a number of MPs who previously supported the assisted suicide Bill recognise this, and it is highly likely they are not alone”.
“Given the slim majority with which Kim Leadbeater’s Bill passed the House of Commons last year, this opposition, combined with the many flaws in the Bill exposed by experts in the House of Lords, means the Bill would very likely fail even if it were revived”.
“In light of the current political climate and splits in the Labour Party, it would be deeply misguided for any MP to bring back the Bill, which would merely create further division and distract both the Government and Parliament from the very real challenges facing our country”.
