As you will have seen, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has announced his resignation.
Andy Burnham is now the clear front-runner to become the next Prime Minister. If there is no full Labour leadership contest, he could be in office by mid-July.
This is a very important moment in our campaign to defeat the revived Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill, which has been brought back by Lauren Edwards MP and is due to have its Second Reading on 11 September.
That is why I am asking you to urgently email your MP today using the new tool we have just launched. It includes important new information MPs need to see, and asks them to vote NO on 11 September.
If you want to read more about where Andy Burnham stands on assisted suicide, please keep reading. But if you do not have time, please scroll down now and click the button to contact your MP. It takes just 30 seconds.
WHERE DOES ANDY BURNHAM STAND ON ASSISTED SUICIDE?
While Sir Keir Starmer was a strong supporter of the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill, the most recent comments from Andy Burnham suggest that he is far less supportive.
His position appears similar to that of the former Health Secretary, Wes Streeting. Streeting is not opposed to assisted suicide in principle, 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, he voted against the Leadbeater Bill at both Second and Third Readings.
Burnham has also said that hospices should be properly funded and sorted out before any change in the law.
Given the serious crisis in end-of-life care, that condition has plainly not been met.
If Burnham becomes Prime Minister before Parliament returns, he could arrive back in Westminster on 1 September facing an immediate and divisive fight over assisted suicide, just ten days before the vote on 11 September.
At the New Statesman commented, “…it is hard to see a world in which he would welcome this Labour Party-dividing legislation” – and if it is not defeated on 11 September, we could see this issue totally dominating the beginning of his time in power.
This gives us a real opportunity.
If MPs hear clearly from their constituents now that the last thing the country needs is another parliamentary session dominated by this dangerous Bill, there is a good chance that more MPs will vote NO on 11 September.
But we cannot assume this will happen.
We are already hearing from MPs that their inboxes are being flooded by supporters of the assisted suicide Bill. Dignity in Dying is putting pressure on MPs to vote for the Bill, and they will be putting huge pressure on Andy Burnham too.
That is why your MP needs to hear from you now.
TAKE ACTION
Tonight, we have launched our new Support Not Suicide nationwide campaign, which we will be running between now and the vote on 11 September, to ensure that the Bill is defeated at Second Reading.
As part of this campaign, please email your MP using the new tool that we have launched now and ask them to vote NO.
This email includes new information that MPs need to see following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation announcement.
Please click the button below to contact your MP now. It takes just 30 seconds.
Thank you so much for all your help.