Conservative Party leadership finalist Robert Jenrick has urged the Prime Minister to block Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill, warning him that rushing to introduce the law “poses a serious risk [to] thousands of lonely and elderly patients being forced into deaths before their time”.
Earlier today, Jenrick was selected to be one of the final two candidates in the Conservative Party leadership contest, and his plea to the Prime Minister comes shortly after Labour MP Kim Leadbeater announced she would be introducing an assisted suicide Bill, which is expected to be tabled on 16 October.
The Conservative leadership hopeful warned of the dangers of rushing through the legislation, saying “We must never allow vulnerable patients to be pushed into an assisted death. This rush to legislate poses a serious risk of thousands of lonely and elderly patients being forced into deaths before their time”.
“There is almost no issue as sensitive and potentially risky as the legalisation of assisted suicide”, he said.
“In Canada, where a law was rushed through, patients are being pushed into medical assistance in death in order to unclog hospital beds”.
“In Oregon, patients with anorexia are being offered the chance to end their own lives. In Europe, both children and the mentally ill are being euthanised”.
Jenrick went on to say that there is “no justification for such a rapid attempt to upend the law”.
“Starmer needs to pull this bill immediately and – in its place – conduct a full consultation to develop a proposal that would not endanger the lives of the elderly and vulnerable”.
Kemi Badenoch remains the only other Conservative Party leadership candidate after James Cleverly was knocked out earlier today. When Kemi Badenoch was asked about her views on assisted suicide last month, she replied “On assisted suicide personally I am sympathetic to assisted suicide but I know how government works, I have seen it from the inside, I do not trust any government or civil service to be able to deliver this”. The crowd responded with strong applause when Badenoch voiced her concerns about introducing assisted suicide.
‘Slippery slope’ warning from Canada
Jenrick’s comments came shortly after it was reported that a group of 54 cross-party MPs are believed to be campaigning for Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill to apply not only to people who are terminally ill, but also to those who are “incurably suffering”. These include “as many as 38 Labour” MPs, 13 of whom are in Government positions.
The news that these MPs were backing a more radical change in the law came shortly after Labour MP Kim Leadbeater insisted that her Bill would only apply to those with terminal illnesses.
“I’m really clear. This is about people who are terminally ill”, she said.
When asked about the danger of a slippery slope, Leadbeater said “Wherever a law has been introduced in other countries and it’s got strict limited criteria with proper safeguards and protections, it hasn’t been widened. So there is a perception that’s the case but it isn’t the case”.
“Where there are countries where the law is broader, that was always how it started. So I think there is a perception around the slippery slope concept, which actually isn’t reality”, she added.
However, Leadbeater’s claim that the slippery slope isn’t real is undermined, not only by MPs from her own party already attempting to widen the scope of her Bill that has not even been released yet, but also by evidence from a number of jurisdictions with laws that originally had supposedly restrictive criteria for access to assisted suicide, but have subsequently widened the criteria under which assisted suicide and/or euthanasia can happen.
Assisted suicide campaigners, Dignity in Dying, cite Oregon as a model for rolling out legislation in the UK, claiming that it provides for assisted suicide under strict criteria and with several safeguards.
A review of the assisted suicide data from Oregon over the last 25 years, published by leading academics in the journal BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, suggests that since the law was introduced in Oregon, the law has subsequently been interpreted to allow for wider access to assisted suicide.
The academics found that “[s]ince 2010, patients with a range of non-cancer diagnoses have received [physician assisted suicide] including non-terminal illnesses such arthritis, arteritis, complications from a fall, hernia, sclerosis, ‘stenosis’ and anorexia nervosa”.
Residency requirements for assisted suicide in the state of Oregon were removed in 2022, leading to concerns about ‘suicide tourism’.
Members of other parties have serious concerns about assisted suicide
Reservations about the proposed legislation have come from members of other parties, and even from within the Labour Cabinet itself.
Before the announcement of Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said “I don’t intend to support it”.
“I know some MPs who support this issue think, ‘For God’s sake, we’re not a nation of granny killers, what’s wrong with you’… [But] once you cross that line, you’ve crossed it forever. If it becomes the norm that at a certain age or with certain diseases, you are now a bit of a burden… that’s a really dangerous position”.
At the beginning of September, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said “Candidly, when I think about this question of being a burden, I do not think that palliative care, end-of-life care in this country is in a condition yet where we are giving people the freedom to choose, without being coerced by the lack of support available”.
“I am not sure as a country we have the right end-of-life care available to enable a real choice on assisted dying”, he added.
In September, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged MPs “not to rush” a decision on assisted suicide legislation. In an interview with Sky News, he emphasised his scepticism toward changing the law and called for increased funding for end-of-life care as an alternative.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Alarm bells should be ringing at the prospect of an assisted suicide Bill being rushed through and, as Robert Jenrick points out, thousands of lonely and elderly patients particularly being put at risk”.
“We only need to look at the disastrous results of the legislation in Canada and Oregon to see that such a move must be avoided in the UK”.
“We call on MPs, in the strongest possible terms, to heed these warnings, to reject Kim Leadbeater’s rushed and ill-thought-through legislation, and to focus instead on improving end-of-life care”.
