PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press release – Assisted suicide Bill on course to be defeated at Second Reading, prompting calls for Lauren Edwards to prevent Labour civil war and withdraw divisive Bill
17 June 2026 – The revived Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill, introduced to Parliament today by Lauren Edwards MP, appears to be on course to be defeated at Second Reading on Friday 11 September, prompting calls for Edwards to avoid an unnecessary Labour civil war over the Bill and withdraw the divisive Bill before September’s scheduled vote.
Given only 12 MPs would need to change their minds for the Bill to be defeated, 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 that the Bill is on track to be defeated.
The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 provide a rarely-used method of forcing through legislation that has been agreed by the House of Commons through without the consent of the House of Lords. Only seven Bills have ever become law under the Parliament Acts, and they have never been used for a Private Members’ Bill – that is, a non-Government Bill – like the assisted suicide Bill. In practice, for the Parliament Acts to be used, it would likely require the Government to adopt the assisted suicide Bill as a Government Bill or to provide time for its passage.
The likely defeat of the Bill has also been predicted by the co-sponsor of the Bill, Peter Bedford, who told a constituent only three weeks ago that he “does not think it will succeed if brought back as a Private Members’ Bill again during this parliamentary session”.
The Times newspaper’s lead article today, 17 June, similarly described hopes of success for a new Bill as “highly unlikely” and “delusional”, describing the Bill as “shoddy” and “riddled with defects”.
Since MPs last debated the Bill, it has been widely criticised by expert groups at a House of Lords select committee, and Scotland has decisively rejected assisted suicide.
Already, seven 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, Joe Morris and Will Forster).
These seven 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.
Recent polling has also 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.
Recent polling of the general public also shows there is 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 the Leadbeater assisted dying Bill was introduced in October 2024, has shown that there is no mandate from the public to revive Kim Leadbeater’s failed assisted suicide Bill and circumvent the House of Lords to push it into law.
Full details on that polling, including constituency-level results for Lauren Edwards’ constituency, are available in this press release from The Other Half here.
Lauren Edwards ignored pleas to choose a different Bill
Since Lauren Edwards was drawn in second place in the MP Private Members’ Bill ballot, countless groups and individuals called on her not to bring back the assisted suicide Bill. These include her own constituents, with over 550 Rochester and Strood residents calling on her not to bring back the Leadbeater Bill, but to choose instead a Bill that would unite and benefit her whole constituency. These constituents were joined by disability, domestic abuse and eating disorder campaigners in asking the MP to rethink plans to revive Leadbeater’s Bill.
Leading disabled Peer Lord Shinkwin was another to call on Lauren Edwards to choose a different Bill.
As outlined below, in recent days, numerous Labour MPs also expressed their opposition to Edwards reintroducing the assisted suicide Bill, while, in its lead article, The Times newspaper reported Andy Burnham’s “scepticism” about the return of the Bill (see below for more information about Burnham’s position).
In the 24 hours before Edwards brought back the Bill, The British Association of Social Workers and The British Geriatrics Society expressed their ongoing opposition to the Leadbeater Bill.
Despite all these voices, and the continued concerns of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and other professional institutions that would need to implement the Bill, Lauren Edwards has chosen to plough on with bringing back the divisive and flawed Bill anyway, ignoring concerns.
Return of Bill will cause division in the Labour Party at the worst possible time
A new assisted suicide Bill will distract Labour from focusing on core priorities, undermining any attempted political reset after the local elections and causing a major headache for Andy Burnham if he becomes Prime Minister.
After Lauren Edwards announced she would bring the Bill back, several Labour MPs took to social media 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. These MPs include Adam Jogee, David Smith, Rupa Huq and Kirsteen Sullivan. Other MPs, including Ashley Dalton, Emma Lewell, Antonia Bance, Allison Gardner, Daniel Francis, Uma Kumaran, Ian Byrne, Scott Arthur and Andrew Pakes, alongside Labour Peers and former MPs Luciana Berger and Barbara Keeley, all also expressed serious concern about the return of the Bill.
Still more Labour MPs 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 also publicly opposed the return of the Bill.
Given the ongoing turmoil in the Labour Party and the fact that 42% of Labour MPs (160, including several Cabinet Ministers) voted against the Bill at Third Reading in 2025, many MPs will be dismayed at the return of a controversial Bill that will cause division and distract from other priorities, while also leading to a backlash from constituents, especially when it will likely fail.
A similar Bill has recently been rejected in Scotland, where, strikingly, 85% of Labour MSPs (17/20) opposed the Bill. Many new intake Labour MPs likely voted for the Westminster Bill previously because of the support of Keir Starmer early on in their parliamentary careers.
Andy Burnham likely to oppose assisted suicide Bill if he returns to Westminster
The New Statesman reported on Tuesday, 16 June, that Andy Burnham may oppose a new assisted suicide Bill, and would not welcome its return.
“Should Burnham return to Westminster as MP for Makerfield on Friday (and later prime minister) it is hard to see a world in which he would welcome this Labour Party-dividing legislation”, the article said.
Andy Burnham, frontrunner to succeed Keir Starmer, has said he supports the principle of assisted suicide, but has set a precondition that hospices must be “properly funded and sorted out” before any law change.
Burnham previously stated, “[In] terms of the implementation of it, I would say there should be a kind of requirement that the hospices of this country get properly funded and sorted out before that law change comes in”.
He added that palliative care is not “in the strong position it should be in”, stating that, “Consequently, you can’t have this law change with an underfunded hospice movement”.
Given the end-of-life care crisis in this country, Burnham’s precondition, that palliative care is properly funded before assisted suicide is introduced, has plainly not been met. It therefore seems unlikely he will support the revived assisted suicide Bill.
Burnham’s position is similar to Labour leadership rival Wes Streeting, who is also not opposed to the principle of assisted suicide, but has said that end-of-life care is not in a condition where people at the end of their life would have genuine freedom to choose an assisted death. On this basis, the former Health Secretary opposed the Leadbeater Bill at both Second and Third Readings.
Additionally, Louise Haigh, Burnham’s highly influential by-election campaign chief, told constituents she “would not support attempts” to invoke the Parliament Acts to force the assisted suicide Bill through. Haigh’s opposition is significant because she supported Leadbeater’s Bill.
The Parliament Acts route has never been used for a Private Members’ Bill
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 them 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.
In its lead article today, The Times newspaper described plans to invoke the Parliament Acts for the assisted suicide Bill as “a constitutional outrage” and “unconscionable”. The Times View also defended the House of Lords’ “detailed scrutiny” of the Bill, which has been smeared by Bill supporters, as doing “the country a service”. Bill supporters have claimed that a small group of Peers blocked the Bill in the House of Lords and have used this narrative to justify the return of the Bill.
The reality is that over 140 Peers actively opposed the Bill in the House of Lords, including leading experts, while numerous Royal Colleges, professional bodies and groups representing vulnerable people expressed their concerns with the Bill at a House of Lords select committee in the autumn.
As Nikki da Costa, former Director of Legislative Affairs at 10 Downing Street, has pointed out, using the Parliament Acts route means the Bill has to be brought back in an essentially identical form to the version passed by MPs in the previous session, and could not be amended in the House of Commons. It appears that this is what Lauren Edwards has done.
That makes it impossible for MPs to fix the flaws, many of which have been flagged by Royal Colleges, in the Bill if the Parliament Acts route is used. This approach also seeks to hold the House of Lords to ransom by threatening them with the use of the Acts if they do not make changes MPs want but are unwilling to make themselves.
Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, CEO of the charity Right To Life UK, which campaigns against assisted suicide and in support of better access to palliative care, said:
“Lauren Edwards is not bringing forward a new Bill. She is bringing back the same unsafe assisted suicide Bill that ran out of time in the Lords because it had too many problems to be fixed”.
“This new Bill is likely to blow up any attempted Labour reset in the coming days under current or new leadership. It is difficult to think of anything more unwelcome, divisive or distracting at this time than bringing back a Bill that is widely opposed by experts and vulnerable groups”.
“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 have already recognised 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 is on course to fail decisively at Second Reading on 11 September”.
“It is not too late for Lauren Edwards to unite her Party, MPs and the country by not progressing a Bill that has likely lost its majority already”.
ENDS
- For additional quotes and media interviews contact 07774 483 658 or email press@righttolife.org.uk
- For further information on Right To Life UK visit www.righttolife.org.uk
