PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press release – Cross-party MPs who supported the assisted suicide Bill now oppose it being forced through via the Parliament Acts, suggesting Bill likely to fail if it comes back
20 May 2026 – In a major blow to Kim Leadbeater’s plans to revive her assisted suicide Bill, cross-party MPs from the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties who previously voted for the Bill, including former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Conservative MP Sir Jeremy Hunt, have told constituents they now oppose it being forced into law using the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords.
Assisted suicide campaigners have made it clear that they are going to attempt to resurrect Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill in the new parliamentary session.
Their plan involves persuading an MP successful in the Private Members’ Bill ballot on 21 May 2026 to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill – and then use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords to force it into law.
Ahead of the House of Commons Private Members’ Bill ballot taking place at 9AM tomorrow, four MPs who voted for the assisted suicide Bill last year in the House of Commons have written to their constituents to tell them they oppose any plans to revive the Bill via the Private Members’ Bill ballot and then use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords to force it into law.
These four MPs are likely to be the tip of the iceberg and represent views shared by many other MPs.
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.
- Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Conservative MP Sir Jeremy Hunt, who voted for Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill at Second and Third Reading, wrote to a constituent opposing the use of the Parliament Acts. He said: “The Bill addresses complex moral issues and bypassing the Lords would likely be challenged so I would not be in favour in taking this action”.
- Labour MP Deirdre Costigan, who also voted for the assisted suicide Bill at both Second and Third Readings, wrote to a constituent saying: “I do not therefore believe that the Parliament Act should be used if it fails to get through the House of Lords in the required timeframe”.
- Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, Richard Foord, who voted for the Leadbeater Bill at Second and Third Reading, wrote to a constituent saying: “I do not wish to see the Parliament Acts used to force through this Bill”.
- Liberal Democrat MP Will Forster, who voted for assisted suicide at both Second and Third Reading, wrote to a constituent saying: “I do not think the bill can or should be pushed through by using the Parliament Act.”
Other MPs who supported the Bill have expressed their view that it would be “extremely unlikely” that the Parliament Acts could or would be used for the assisted suicide Bill:
- Labour MP Ian Murray, Minister of State in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, who voted for the Leadbeater Bill at Third Reading, told a member of his constituency:
“Any decision about the use of the Parliament Acts would only arise in specific procedural circumstances and would ultimately be a matter for the Government and for Parliament as a whole. I think using them is extremely unlikely, but I will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
The MP then went on to say, despite the claims of Kim Leadbeater and Lord Falconer, that: “More broadly, I agree with you that scrutiny by the House of Lords is legitimate and appropriate in this case.”
- Despite voting for assisted suicide at Second and Third Readings, Liberal Democrat MP Charlotte Cane told a constituent in Ely and East Cambridgeshire on 19 February:
“The Parliament Acts have never been applied to a Private Members’ Bill, and doing so would be highly irregular… For these reasons, I consider it extremely unlikely that the Parliament Acts would be invoked in relation to the Terminally Ill Adults (Assisted Dying) Bill.”
It is likely that many MPs would 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.
This is likely to be particularly the case for Labour MPs, given the current turmoil in the party and that 58% of Labour MPs who voted at Third Reading in 2025 voted for the Bill and 42% voted (160 Labour MPs, including Cabinet Ministers) against it. Bringing back the Bill would divide the parliamentary party at the worst possible time for the Labour Party.
It is likely that the number of Labour MPs opposing the Bill would increase if the Bill returned, 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 the next 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 (7 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.
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.
Conservative MP and Opposition Assistant Whip Gregory Stafford, a member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said:
“If an MP were to bring back Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill in this week’s Private Members’ Bill ballot, it would show they had learned nothing from the last two years, where both the Bill itself and the Private Members’ Bill process were shown to be manifestly deficient for introducing such a sensitive social change.”
“The last thing any of us MPs – or the country – needs right now is for another parliamentary session to be dominated by time-consuming and acrimonious debates about this issue. It is time we focused instead on the many other challenges facing the country, while investing in improved palliative care to help people at the end of life.”
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:
“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.”
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
