Assisted dying bill vote: Latest updates as MPs debate new law to allow terminally-ill people the right to die for first time

Assisted dying bill vote: Latest updates as MPs debate new law to allow terminally-ill people the right to die for first time


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MPs from across Parliament are debating whether to back a law to legalise assisted dying which has been likened to ‘crossing a Rubicon’.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private members’ bill, named the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, would allow some terminally-ill people to choose when they can die if it is passed into law.

Ms Leadbeater opened the debate in the Commons arguing the legislation would provide ‘autonomy and dignity’ to people at the end of their lives but other MPs have raised concerns of safeguarding and coercion.

Hundreds of politicians are expected to vote for and against the proposed legislation passing to the next stage, but many have yet to declare their intentions ahead of a vote expected to take place this afternoon.

Follow the latest updates below and join in the conversation in our comments section

Watch live: MPs debate assisted dying law in Commons

Here’s our live stream of today’s debate in Parliament as MPs speak for and against assisted dying.

Watch: Moment Labour MP nearly breaks into tears during assisted dying debate

This is the moment Dame Meg Hillier became very emotional as she spoke about her daughter during the debate on assisted dying.

She spoke about her daughter who was admitted to hospital as a teenager with acute pancreatitis which left her unsure whether she would live or die.

Dame Meg urged any MPs with ‘scintilla of doubt’ about the Bill to vote against it as she insisted the failure of palliative care was not a reason to support it.

Watch her intervention below:

Disabled MP tells Commons backing Bill was one of her ‘hardest decisions’

A Labour MP who has lived with a disability all her life said she would support the assisted dying Bill, but described the decision as ‘one of the hardest that I have had to make’.

Marie Tidball (Penistone and Stocksbridge) told the Commons:

Today’s decision has been one of the hardest that I have had to make. In my career in disability law and policy I chose not to focus on debates about whether disabled people should be born, or whether we should die.

Instead I focused on enabling disabled people to live better more fulfilling lives. Today I find myself voting in a way that I thought I never would, I will be voting in favour of moving the Bill to the next stage of the legislative process.

Sharing her personal experience, Ms Tidball said:

When I was six years old I had major surgery on my hips. I was in body plaster from my chest to my ankles, in so much pain and requiring so much morphine that my skin began to itch. I remember vividly laying in a hospital bed in Sheffield Children’s Hospital and saying to my parents ‘I want to die, please let me die’.

I needed to escape from that body that I was inhabiting. That moment has come back to me all these years later. That moment made it clear to me that if the Bill was about intolerable suffering I would not be voting for it.

Starmer will not reveal vote on assisted dying

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he hosts a "Movember" breakfast reception inside 10 Downing Street in London on November 29, 2024. (Photo by Ian Vogler / POOL / AFP) (Photo by IAN VOGLER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Downing Street declined to say how Sir Keir Starmer will vote on assisted dying legislation but said he is paying close attention to the debate in the Commons.

‘He’s obviously paying extremely close attention to the debate. Ministers must be able to vote according to their conscience,’ the Prime Minister’s deputy spokesman said.

People across the country will be paying extremely close attention to today’s vote, but this is a matter of conscience.

It is for Parliament to decide changes to the law, and the Prime Minister is on record as saying he’s not going to say or do anything that will put pressure on other people in relation to their vote.

Every MP will have to make his or her mind up and decide what they want to do when that vote comes.

Sir David Davis calls for more time to get Bill right

Screen grab of MP David Davis speaking during the debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the chamber of the House of Commons in Westminster, London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story Politics AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

Conservative grandee Sir David Davis revealed he would be backing the assisted dying Bill at its second reading, but urged the Government to give MPs more time to debate it in future.

Sir David said he had changed his mind on assisted dying, describing himself as a believer in the ‘sanctity of life’ but also in freedom from torture and misery, and confirmed he would support its continuation through Parliament.

But he told the Commons he would only continue to support it at its later stages if it was given more time.

In a direct message to Labour ministers, he said:

This Bill is more important than most of the Bills in your manifesto.

More people care about this than they care about most other things we are doing, so it deserves four days in report stage in Government time over the course of several weeks. We don’t need a Royal Commission, this House can do this, but it needs to be given the option to do it.

So I say to the Government the path of responsibility is give us the time to get this right, and if we get it right it will be one of the things we will be proudest of in the coming years until we eventually leave this place.

Lib Dem MP – ‘My opposition to assisted dying is grounded in compassion’

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has told MPs his opposition to the assisted dying bill is ‘grounded in compassion’.

The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale warned MPs that “neither side has a monopoly on compassion”.

I personally will always be affected by watching my mum suffer at her death at the age I am now.

Mr Farron later warned of “self-coercion” and said:

My opposition to this Bill is grounded in compassion. To legalise assisted dying is to create the space for coercion that will undoubtedly see people die who would not otherwise have chosen to do so.

There are no safeguards in this Bill that will prevent this, indeed, to be fair, none would be possible even if we weren’t going through this hasty process.

Tory MP – I fear NHS will fund death

Screen grab of MP and Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh speaking during the debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the chamber of the House of Commons in Westminster, London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story Politics AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh said he fears putting money into the NHS ‘to fund death’.

Sir Edward, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, told the Commons:

Yes, we have to fund our hospice movement seriously. It is very worrying that we’re going to fund the NHS to fund death, but we’re not adequately funding our hospice movement.

What sort of society are we? Are we a society that loves our NHS, that loves life, that loves caring, that loves the hospice movement? Or are we a society which believes that there is despair? So, I will be voting for hope at 2.30pm and I will be voting against this Bill.

Labour MP – ‘This is not life or death but death or death’

Labour MP Dr Peter Prinsley has told the Commons he believes the assisted dying bill is the ‘right change’ after once considering it as ‘unconscionable’.

I have seen uncontrollable pain. I’m speaking here of people who are dying, not of people living well with chronic or terminal diseases. We are talking about people at the end of their lives, wishing to choose the time and place to die.

Dr Prinsley later adds the legislation is ‘not a slippery slope’.

We are shortening death, not life for patients. This is not life or death, this is death or death.

Coercion and manipulation have been spoken about and are no doubt feared, but I think the danger of no change to the law is a greater fear for those who are dying and wish to have choice.

Tory MP – Assisted dying will place ‘implicit pressure’ on vulnerable people

Conservative MP Ben Spencer, a consultant psychiatrist, urged MPs to vote against the Bill as he warned it places ‘implicit pressure’ on vulnerable people.

The MP for Runnymede and Weybridge said there was ‘limited ability’ to scrutinise the Bill, adding:

Many MPs support the principle of assisted dying but have concerns over implementation, resource implications and safeguarding – which is why I, along with other colleagues on both sides of the House, tabled a reasoned amendment to this Bill calling for an independent review and consultation before a vote in Parliament to provide a third way through.

Dr Spencer later said the Bill ‘does not protect’ people who are vulnerable to coercion or struggling with the burden of caring responsibilities, saying:

It risks placing implicit pressure on people already vulnerable at a time of life when they should be receiving our unwavering care and support. We should and must vote it down.

Labour MP wipes away tears as she tells MPs about ill daughter

grabs - Dame Meg Hillier speaking about her daughter - she nearly breaks into tears

Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier wiped away tears as she spoke of her daughter’s admission to hospital with acute pancreatitis and how ‘good medicine’ can relieve the pain.

Former minister Dame Meg, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, told the Commons:

The principle at stake is that we do cross a Rubicon whereby somebody who is terminally ill by the definition of this Bill is assisted by the state to die. This is a fundamental change in the relationship between the state and the citizen, and the patient and their doctor.

If we have a scintilla of doubt about allowing the state that power, we should vote against this today.

Dame Meg said a ‘failure in palliative care and support is not a reason to continue’ with the Bill, adding about her daughter:

She was admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis as a teenager so this Bill would not have covered her at that point, but I did not know for five days, in fact many months, whether she would live or die.

Those first five days she did not sleep and she was crying out in pain. But I saw what good medicine can do that palliated that pain, that got her to a place where although for two-and-a-half months she was unable to eat, she was saved and the key was she was not in pain – well, she was in pain but it was managed.

Wes Streeting challenged to make ‘firm commitments’ to palliative care

Health Secretary Wes Streeting during a Movember breakfast reception at 10 Downing Street in London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Movember. Photo credit should read: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA Wire

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been challenged to ‘put firm commitments on palliative care on the table’ during the debate on assisted dying.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran told the Commons:

I think this debate around palliative care needs to be had, my concern is that we have not had any firm commitments from Government other than woolly words about how they are actually going to tackle this. My concern is that a Royal Commission pushes this into the long grass.

And I say to the Secretary of State, who is in his place, the gauntlet has been thrown down. If he wants someone like me to not vote for this Bill moving forwards, I would say to him, he needs to do two things: one is put firm commitments on palliative care on the table that resolve them within the next, like one or two years, but then also commit to afterwards, bringing a bill like this back in Government time. Without those firm commitments, I will continue to make the case for continuing to want to see progress.

Ex-Home Secretary questions why Bill isn’t extended to children

Conservative former minister James Cleverly questioned why the Bill is not being extended to children if it is a positive’.

Intervening in a speech by Lib Dem’s Layla Moran, Mr Cleverly said:

She’s misrepresenting what we are doing at this point with this Bill. We are speaking about the specifics of this Bill, this is not a general debate, this is not a theoretical discussion – it is about the specifics of the Bill.

If this is such a good thing to alleviate pain and suffering, a right that we should be proud to pass, why are we denying it to children? If it is a positive, why are we denying it to children?

Chairwoman of the health and social care committee Ms Moran replied:

I would simply say that might be something he might want to put in Bill committee at later stages. But it is important that members appreciate they can vote ‘yes’ today, and vote ‘no’ later.

Watch: Diane Abbott explains why she won’t support Bill

Here’s video of Diane Abbott explaining why she won’t support the assisted dying bill in Parliament this afternoon.

The veteran Labour MP suggested there is a ‘better Bill’ on assisted dying which could come forward in the future, as she said she ‘cannot vote for a Bill’ with doubts about the safeguards within it.

Lib Dem MP – I want conversation to continue on assisted dying

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran told the Commons she will be voting for the Bill ‘because I want this conversation to continue’.

The chairwoman of the health and social care committee said:

To those MPs who might be minded to vote for it on principle but are worried about the details, about how we might change a word here, or the role of clinicians or MPs, or whatever it may be, may I urge them to reconsider the question they’re asking themselves today.

This is the second reading, the media is asking all of us: ‘are you for or against this Bill?’ I would urge you to think of this question differently. The question I think we, and I, will be answering today is, ‘do I want to keep talking about the issues in this Bill’?

Do I want to keep grappling with the detail until I get to third reading, where I might reserve the right to at that point vote no? You can decide the question for yourself.

Labour MP – Assisted dying bill is ‘wrong and rushed’

The assisted dying Bill is the ‘wrong and rushed answer to a complex problem’, Labour MP Rachael Maskell said.

The Bill falls woefully short on safeguarding patients, too flawed to amend. It’s the wrong and rushed answer to a complex problem.

The MP for York Central said coercion is her ‘greatest concern’, adding:

While we recognise coercion in relationships or elder abuse in dying – where there is malign intent – this Bill fails to safeguard.

Ms Maskell also raised concerns about the Bill’s impact on disabled people, she said:

We fight in this House to take stigma, give dignity, equality and worth, it is why disabled people fear this Bill. It devalues them in a society where they fight to live.

If you stand for equality, you will recognise the safeguarding failures in this Bill.

Watch: Tory MP tells Commons he wants right-to-die choice for himself

Mr Malthouse warns MPs planning to vote against the assisted dying they are making a ‘passive choice’

He says no matter which way the vote falls this afternoon, terminally ill people will continue to take their own lives, all they are deciding is how.

Watch his speech in the Commons:

Labour MP – Terminally ill may see assisted dying as ‘patriotic duty’

Terminally ill people stuck in hospital might consider it their ‘patriotic duty’ to take advantage of assisted dying to free up beds in the event of another pandemic, MPs heard.

Jonathan Davies, Labour MP for Mid Derbyshire, said in an intervention:

I worry that if we were to see another pandemic on the scale of what we saw in 2020 whether people might think they were doing something patriotic by getting out of the way, by freeing up a bed for a young person.

Tory MP – Adding to burden of NHS and courts is no reason to vote against Bill

Screen grab of MP Kit Malthouse, co-sponsor of the bill, speaking during the debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the chamber of the House of Commons in Westminster, London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story Politics AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

Kit Malthouse argued against suggestions that adding to the burden of the NHS and the courts was a reason to vote against the Bill.

The Conservative former minister, who backs the assisted dying Bill, told the Commons:

These people are already dying. They are already in the national health service, they already are entitled to care. Even if you think there is an impact, are you seriously telling me that my death, my agony, is too much for the NHS to have time for? Is too much hassle?

Or even the claim that it would overload the judges. That I should drown in my own faecal vomit because it is too much hassle for the judges to deal with? We send things to the NHS and the judges from this House all the time. Is anyone suggesting that we shouldn’t be creating a new offence of spiking because the judges are overworked – which has come through this week? Of course not.

They will cope as they have done with all sorts of things that we have sent from this house over the years and we should not countenance the idea that some logistical problem is going to get in the way of giving us a good death to our fellow citizens.

Watch: ‘I’ve changed my mind on assisted dying after listening to constituents’

Former Conservative cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell has told the Commons he has changed his mind on assisted dying after speaking to his constituents with tears ‘pouring down my face’.

Mr Mitchell, an ex-Foreign Office minister, said he believes MPs should give people the choice over when they want to die, adding he wants it for his family and ‘perhaps, one day, for myself’.

He added the current law meant people were planning their deaths ‘in secret’.

Watch his intervention below:

Watch: Tory MPs draws groans over claims assisted death doctors ‘kill hundreds’

This is the moment groans broke out in the Commons after a Tory MP claimed specialist assisted death doctors in other countries ‘personally kill hundreds of patients a year’.

Danny Kruger told MPs: Medics I met in Canada, specialists in assisted death who personally kill hundreds of patients a year in their special clinics…’

Amid protests from MPs, he responded: ‘Well if members have a difficulty with the language then I wonder what they are doing here? This is what we are talking about.’

Diane Abbott – Judges could just ‘rubber stamp’ assisted deaths

In this video grab taken from footage broadcast by the UK Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) via the Parliament TV website on November 29, 2024, British Labour Party politician Diane Abbott speaks during a debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the House of Commons. Supporters and opponents of a bill to legalise euthanasia in the UK gathered outside the Houses of Parliament as UK lawmakers debated on whether to advance divisive and emotive legislation to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales. (Photo by PRU / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, ADVERTISING PURPOSES - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / PRU " (Photo by -/PRU/AFP via Getty Images)

High Court judges’ involvement in assisted dying ‘could just be a rubber stamp’, Mother of the House Diane Abbott has warned.

The long-serving Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington said:

I would recall to the House that in 1969, Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty for murder. Public opinion was actually against it but MPs believed on a point of principle that the state should not be involved in taking a life.

It was a good principle in 1969 and it remains a good principle today. I am not against legalising assisted dying in any circumstance but I have many reservations about this Bill and in particular, I do not believe that the safeguards are sufficient.

They are supposed to be the strongest in the world because of the involvement of a High Court judge, but the divisional court have said the intervention of a court would simply interpose an expensive and time consuming forensic procedure.

Is a judge supposed to second-guess doctors? Will the judge make a decision on the basis of paperwork? Or will there be a hearing in open court? And where will be the capacity in the criminal justice system to deal with all this?

So far from being a genuine safeguard, the involvement of a judge could just be a rubber stamp.

Tory MP – Assisted dying law will change life and death for everyone

Screen grab of MP Danny Kruger speaking in opposition to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the chamber of the House of Commons in Westminster, London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story Politics AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

Mr Kruger has ended his speech by claiming the option of assisted dying will ‘change life and death for everyone’.

On the issue of choice, Mr Kruger said:

With this new option and the comparative loss of investment and innovation in palliative care, real choice narrows.

No man or woman is an island, and just as every person’s death, even a good death, diminishes us all, so we will all be involved and affected if we make this change.

The Bill will not just create a new option for a few and leave everyone else unaffected, it will impose on every person towards the end of their life, on everyone who could be thought to be near death – and on their family – this new reality, the option of assisted suicide, the obligation to have the conversation around the bedside, in whispers in the corridor, ‘Is it time?’ and it will change life and death for everyone.

Tory MP – Anyone with serious illness could be classed terminally ill

Mr Kruger has argued that “almost anybody with a serious illness or disability” could fit the definition of terminally ill under the Bill.

The fact is that almost anybody with a serious illness or disability could fit this definition, and I recognise that these are not the cases (Kim Leadbeater) has in mind for this Bill, of course they’re not, but that’s the problem with the Bill.

Because all you need to do to qualify for an assisted death, the definition of terminal illness under this Bill, is to refuse treatment – like insulin if you’re diabetic.

In the case of eating disorders you just need to refuse food and the evidence is, in jurisdictions around the world and in our own jurisprudence, that would be enough to qualify you for an assisted death.

Watch: Labour MP tells Commons ‘this isn’t a choice between life and death’

This is the moment Labour MP Kim Leadbeater told MPs her bill did not constitute a ‘choice between life and death’.

Putting forward her bill earlier today, she said: ‘the right to choose does not take away the right not to choose’.

Ms Leadbeater insisted her proposed legislation has overwhelming public support.

Watch part of her speech below:

Doctors and hospice workers oppose change in law in ‘great majority’

Mr Kruger has argued that doctors and palliative care professionals are ‘in a great majority opposed to a change in the law’.

There is very clear evidence that doctors who work with the dying and the palliative care professionals are in a great majority opposed to a change in the law, both because they see the damage that it will do to the palliative care profession and services but also because of the dangers that they see to vulnerable patients.

Tory MP – Assisted dying bill is ‘too flawed’ to make meaningful changes

Screen grab of MP Danny Kruger speaking in opposition to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the chamber of the House of Commons in Westminster, London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story Politics AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

The assisted dying Bill is ‘too big’ and ‘too flawed’ for MPs to make meaningful changes to it, the Commons heard.

Conservative MP Danny Kruger told MPs:

This Bill is simply too big for the time that it has been given. I implore members not to hide behind the fiction that it can be amended substantially in committee and it the remaining stages.

The point about process though is this Bill is too flawed, there is too much to do with it to address in the committee stage.

East Wiltshire MP Mr Kruger earlier said:

My view is that if we get our broken palliative care system right and our wonderful hospices properly funded we can do so much more for all the people that we will hear about today, using modern pain relief and therapies to help everybody die with a minimum of suffering when the time comes.

But we won’t be able to do that if we introduce this new option. Instead we will expose many more people to harm.

Watch: Protesters call on MPs to back assisted dying bill

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Parliament on Friday calling on MPs to vote for Kim Leadbeater’s private members’ bill to legalise assisted dying.

At Parliament Square, just around the corner from a demonstration against the Bill, protesters dressed in pink held signs asking MPs to ‘vote for dignity’.

One held a sign saying ‘my life, my death, my choice’.

Speaking from the protest, Ally Thomson, director of communications at campaign group Dignity in Dying, said:

It’s not a law for people who are making a choice between living and dying, that choice has been made already for them.

They’re having a choice between two kinds of deaths. We know that the majority of the British public are very much in favour of Kim’s Bill.

Voting against bill will ‘end conversation for another 10 years’

Voting against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday will mean ‘the end of the conversation once again for another 10 years’, a Labour backbencher has said.

Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins said during an intervention:

A decade ago, I voted against this Bill. I felt maybe it’s not perfect, maybe there’s more things that I need to know.

And she’s absolutely right, we haven’t talked about death again for 10 years. We’ve never considered this legislation. The truth is if we vote against her Bill today, it will be the end of the conversation once again for another decade.

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who put forward the Bill, replied:

He’s absolutely right, and how many people will go through the situations I have described if it’s another 10 years before we address this matter?

Ms Leadbeater has now concluded her opening speech to open the floor to the chamber.

Conservative MP Danny Kruger is now outlining his opposition to the bill and has been granted 15 minutes to speak.

Labour MP – Terminally ill may feel they ‘ought’ to take up assisted dying

Former Labour minister Barry Gardiner has raised fears some terminally ill people may feel assisted dying is something they ‘ought’ to take up if the bill becomes law.

Intervening in the speech by his Labour colleague Kim Leadbeater, Mr Gardiner told the Commons:

My concern is that she has focused today on the individual and the individual choice. But we are here to legislate for society as a whole and in legislating, what we are saying if we pass this Bill is that this is OK to take that choice.

And there will be some people who are in that situation with six months of their life to go who actually will then feel ‘ought I to do this? Is this something that I now should do?’

And it brings into play a whole set of considerations which are about ‘is it better for my family? Is it financially better for my family?’ in ways that at the moment are out of scope. So I think rather than simply focusing on the individual suffering, which we all recognise is acute, we must actually broaden it out to the impact this legislation will have on society as a whole?

What I would suggest is that actually, this Bill will give society a much better approach towards end of life. We’re already seeing conversations about dying and death in a way that we haven’t seen, I don’t think, enough in this country. We have to take a holistic-er view.

Kim Leadbeater – Assisted dying bill contains ‘strongest safeguards in the world’

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has insisted her bill to legalise assisted dying contains the ‘strongest set of safeguards and protections in the world’.

She has repeatedly stated the legislation does not apply to people with mental health conditions, disabled persons or the elderly – unless they have a terminal illness.

There are very strict eligibility criteria and multiple layers of checks and safeguards embedded in the Bill – none of which exist at the moment, as we have seen.

I made a very conscious decision to name the Bill Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)’ rather than anything else. That title can never be changed and it ensures it is only adults who are dying that would ever come within its scope.

As such, this Bill is not about people who are choosing between life and death, it is about giving dying people who have got six months or less to live autonomy about how they die and the choice to shorten their death.

Kim Leadbeater – People travel abroad to die to avoid feeling like criminals

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said people can have an assisted death if they travel to another country, adding the current legal position makes them feel like ‘criminals’.

Because of the current legal position in this country, it is often a deeply distressing and very lonely experience, shrouded in secrecy, with people feeling like criminals as the fear of prosecution hangs over them.

Ms Leadbeater said it is estimated that more than 600 terminally ill people take their own lives every year, as she raised the experience of former Labour MP Paul Blomfield whose father Harry took his own life in 2014.

Harry wasn’t suicidal, he loved life, but he had watched too many of his friends have lingering, degrading deaths and he did not want that for himself. But, like the others, he couldn’t tell Paul and his family of his plan as they would have been complicit and could face prosecution.

And how many precious days and weeks did Harry miss out on as a result of having to take action while he was still able to physically do so?

MPs tells Commons constituent watched mother starve to death

*warning – this post contains distressing details*

A Labour MP supporting the assisted dying bill has told the Commons how one of her constituents watched her mother starve to death after suffering with pancreatic cancer, claiming it was ‘no way to see a loved one die’.

Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) said:

A constituent of mine watched her mum suffer from pancreatic cancer, unable to keep any food down, she basically starved to death.

Does (Ms Leadbeater) agree with me that this is no way to see a loved one die? Does she also feel that we did not come in to this place to shy away from difficult choices, but to listen to our constituents and to make better laws for everyone?

We all have stories from all our constituencies, and she’s absolutely right, we are here to make difficult decisions, but in terms of the example that she gives, I have been astonished by the number of people who have been in touch with me to tell me about their terminally ill loved ones who have starved themselves to death out of desperation.

Labour MP tells MPs public want ‘change in the law’

People take part in a demonstration organised by campaign group Dignity in Dying outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, in support of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

The Labour MP pushing assisted dying legislation has told the House of Commons the British public wants ‘a change in the law’ as she opened today’s historic debate.

Kim Leadbeater told fellow MPs that her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will give people ‘choice, autonomy and dignity at the end of their lives’.

The Commons this morning began a scheduled five hours of debate before they vote this afternoon – around 2.30pm – on whether to proceed with Ms Leadbeater’s proposed legislation.

It will be the first time MPs have voted on the issue of assisted dying since 2015. MPs of all parties have been given a ‘free vote’ and the Government has taken a neutral stance on the Bill.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could vote in favour of the Bill – having backed a law change in 2015 – but Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will oppose the legislation after claiming it had been ‘rushed’.

  • Read the story by our political correspondent Greg Heffer here

Watch: Tory MP claims assisted dying crosses ‘irreversible medical red line’ for doctors

Conservative MP Mark Pritchard said the assisted dying Bill crosses an ‘irreversible medical red line for doctors and for nurses’.

Intervening, the MP for The Wrekin said:

Is it not the case that this crosses a new medical irreversible medical red line for doctors and for nurses?

And is it not the case that in other Bills that we’ve seen in this House over the years, that the safeguards invariably over time become obsolete, so the safeguards in this Bill, however well meant should be seen as temporary safeguards not immutable safeguards?

Assisted dying bill will be ‘nothing like’ laws in Canada and Belgium

Screen grab of the benches filled with MPs during the debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the chamber of the House of Commons in Westminster, London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story Politics AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

Kim Leadbeater told MPs the assisted dying bill being debated was ‘nothing like’ the laws in Canada and Belgium because while it strived for a similar purpose, it had greater safeguards.

DUP MP Jim Shannon (Shannon) intervened to claim the situation in Belgium had ‘deteriorated’ to include dementia and under 18s.

What guarantees have we that this legislation today will not end up as it will in Belgium, in which case ‘anything goes’? Is that what she really wants? I don’t want it, does she?

Let’s be very clear. A huge amount of research has been done by the Health and Social Care Select Committee and indeed by myself and others.

The model that is being proposed here is nothing like happens in Belgium, it is nothing like happens in Canada. It is strict, stringent criteria, and if the House chooses to pass this Bill, that criteria cannot be changed.

Coercion fears raised

Conservative former minister Simon Hoare has raised fears doctors will be unable to check for coercion in assisted dying requests.

Intervening in Kim Leadbeater’s speech to introduce the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Mr Hoare said:

She references coercion and I recognise the point that she makes about the two medics, but the medics won’t be able to see or have heard anything and everything at all times.

People will not be put beyond challenge because subsequent to the death, if a relative claims coercion of another relative, investigation will remain.

Ms Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley, replied:

We’re going to check for coercion in a very robust system. We don’t have any of that now, so at the moment the person will definitely be dead.

We have to look at the status quo by putting layers of safeguarding and checking for coercion. That’s got to be better than the system that we’ve got now.

Kim Leadbeater – Ex-police officer felt unable to travel to Dignitas with dying mother

Screen grab of MP Kim Leadbetter speaking during the debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, in the chamber of the House of Commons in Westminster, London. Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story Politics AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has recounted stories from members of the public to emphasise why the legislation is needed.

She told MPs about a former police officer who felt he could not visit the Swiss Dignitas clinic with his mother.

The MP for Spen Valley told the Commons:

Former police officer James waved his mum off as she embarked on her final trip to Dignitas. She had terminal vasculitis.

James desperately wanted to accompany his mum and hold her hand during her final moments, but he knew because of his job as a police officer it was just not possible – indeed, she insisted he must not go with her. So she went alone. No one to hold her hand, no proper goodbye or funeral.

She said it was one of many examples of the ‘heartbreaking reality and human suffering’ people are experiencing as a result of the status quo

Ms Leadbeater later added:

Let’s be clear, we are not talking about a choice between life or death, we are talking about giving dying people a choice of how to die.

Kim Leadbeater – Assisted dying provides ‘autonomy and dignity’

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said the assisted dying Bill will give people ‘choice, autonomy and dignity’ as she opened the debate in the Commons.

The MP for Spen Valley told MPs:

It is a privilege to open the debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – a piece of legislation which would give dying people – under very stringent criteria – choice, autonomy and dignity at the end of their lives.

And let me say to colleagues across the house – particularly new colleagues – I know that this is not easy. It certainly hasn’t been easy for me. But if any of us wanted an easy life I’m afraid we are in the wrong place. It is our job to address complex issues and make difficult decisions. And I know for many people this is a very difficult decision.

But our job is also to address the issues that matter to people, and after nearly a decade since this hugely important subject was debated on the floor of the house, many would say this debate is long overdue.

Attempt to kill bill fails

An amendment seeking to decline giving the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill a second reading has not been selected for consideration.

A group of six cross-party MPs put forward an amendment arguing a private members’ bill does not ‘allow for sufficient debate on and scrutiny of a Bill on a matter of this importance’.

But it was not chosen by Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle.

MPs now have until 2.30pm to debate the Bill.

If the debate concludes before the cut-off point, they can hold a vote on whether or not to approve the principle of the Bill and allow it undergo further scrutiny at a later date.

More than 160 MPs bid to speak in assisted dying debate

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said more than 160 MPs are bidding to speak in the assisted dying debate.

He advised backbenchers to speak for approximately eight minutes and added he could impose a formal time limit if required.

Sir Lindsay told the Commons:

At about 2pm I will call frontbenchers to make their comments and then we will move to end the debate.

I’ve got to manage the expectations – not everyone will get in. I will try and get in as many people as possible.

It is one of the most important debates this House has had so it’s about being considerate, respectful of each other and let us listen to each other. This is the time for the House to show itself at its best.

Assisted dying bill debate starts in Parliament

In this video grab taken from footage broadcast by the UK Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) via the Parliament TV website on November 29, 2024, British Labour Party politician Kim Leadbeater opens the debate on her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the House of Commons. Supporters and opponents of a bill to legalise euthanasia in the UK gathered outside the Houses of Parliament as UK lawmakers debated on whether to advance divisive and emotive legislation to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales. (Photo by PRU / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, ADVERTISING PURPOSES - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / PRU " (Photo by -/PRU/AFP via Getty Images)

The debate has now started in Parliament with Labour MP Kim Leadbeater speaking first.

Ms Leadbeater put forward the private members’ bill.

More than 100 MPs are expected to speak over the next five hours.

We will bring you the key developments from the Commons throughout the morning and afternoon.

How many people will use assisted dying law?

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said evidence from elsewhere in the world where it is legal suggests assisted deaths account for between 0.5 and 3% of deaths.

She said it is likely take-up would be in the hundreds, rather than thousands.

In terms of how the law is scrutinised, the chief medical officers in England and Wales and the Health Secretary would be required to monitor and report on the operation of the law.

The Health Secretary would also be required to report on the availability, quality and distribution of appropriate health services to people with palliative care needs, including pain and symptom management, psychological support for those people and their families, and information about palliative care and how to access it.

More than 100 MPs expected to speak before vote this afternoon

MPs will vote on whether to legalise assisted suicide in the UK today, with the result on a knife-edge.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet and all the major political parties are heavily divided on changing the law to allow medics to help the terminally ill end their lives without fear of prosecution.

They will vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, introduced by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater, this afternoon amid emotional campaigns run by those for and against the change.

More than 100 MPs are expected to try to speak during a debate starting this morning and expected to last five hours. But critics of the law change have suggested it is being forced through too quickly.

If approved, the Bill would allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults to seek an assisted death with the approval of two doctors and a High Court judge.

Watch: Palliative care patient expresses concern over assisted dying bill

A disabled woman receiving end of life care has told the BBC the assisted dying bill could permanently erode the trust between doctors and patients.

Palliative care patient Nicki Myers, from Cambridge, was given five years to live in 2017 when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness but has outlived her predictions.

Speaking to BBC’s Newsnight she explained why she was concerned about the assisted dying bill.

Pictured: Assisted dying supporters pitch up in Westminster

Earlier we saw protesters against the new assisted dying law but here we have some supporters of the bill making their case in Parliament.

Campaigners supporting the assisted suicide bill hold placards at a demonstration outside The Palace of Westminster in central London, on November 29, 2024, as supporters and opponents of a bill to legalise euthanasia in the UK gather outside the Houses of Parliament while lawmakers debate the bill. UK lawmakers will debate vote today, on whether to advance divisive and emotive legislation to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP) (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images)
Campaigners supporting the assisted suicide bill hold placards at a demonstration outside The Palace of Westminster in central London, on November 29, 2024, as supporters and opponents of a bill to legalise euthanasia in the UK gather outside the Houses of Parliament while lawmakers debate the bill. UK lawmakers will debate vote today, on whether to advance divisive and emotive legislation to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP) (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images)
Campaigners supporting the assisted suicide bill hold placards at a demonstration outside The Palace of Westminster in central London, on November 29, 2024, as supporters and opponents of a bill to legalise euthanasia in the UK gather outside the Houses of Parliament while lawmakers debate the bill. UK lawmakers will debate vote today, on whether to advance divisive and emotive legislation to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP) (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images)

David Cameron U-turns to become first ex-PM to BACK assisted dying

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock (14888372cp) Former UK Prime Minister DAVID CAMERON arrives in Downing Street before attending Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Whitehall Remembrance Sunday, London, England, United Kingdom - 10 Nov 2024

David Cameron has become the first former UK prime minister to give his backing to moves to legalise assisted dying for terminally-ill adults ahead of an emotionally charged vote tomorrow.

The Conservative former PM, who was ennobled as Lord Cameron by Rishi Sunak and served as his foreign secretary, had previously opposed moves to change the law.

But in an article for the Times newspaper, he said he had been won over to supporting in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, set to be debated by MPs on Friday.

Former prime ministers Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Baroness Theresa May and Gordon Brown have all said they are opposed to the Bill.

None of them will have a vote on Friday, but Baroness May and Lord Cameron would if the Bill reached the Lords.

Will there definitely be a vote today?

Bills such as this are known as private members’ bills (PMBs) and are considered during Friday sittings. The time available to consider them is from 9.30am until 2.30pm.

If the debate is still ongoing at 2.30pm then it is adjourned and the Bill falls to the bottom of the list, which means it is highly unlikely to make any further progress.

A closure motion can be moved to curtail the debate and force a vote. It may be moved at any time during proceedings.

On Friday sittings, an MP seeking to move such a motion tends to do so at around 1pm. If approved, the House then votes on whether or not to give the Bill a second reading.

If rejected, the House resumes the debate and the Bill is unlikely to progress.

Pictures: Protesters arrive in Parliament ahead of debate

Protesters against assisted dying have arrived in Parliament as MPs prepare for five hours of debate this morning.

Protestors hold placards as they gather outside the Parliament as British lawmakers debate the assisted dying law, in London, Britain, November 29, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim
Protestors hold placards as they gather outside the Parliament as British lawmakers debate the assisted dying law, in London, Britain, November 29, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim

Would doctors have to take part in an assisted death?

Doctors would not be under any obligation to take part in an assisted dying and the terminally-ill person must take the medication themselves.

It has been suggested it might be the case a person exercising their right to die might be able to take such medication by pushing a button.

Doctors who do would have to be satisfied the person making their declaration to die has made it voluntarily and not been coerced or pressured by anyone else.

They would also be required to ensure the person is making an informed choice, including being made aware of their other treatment options such as palliative and hospice care.

Doctors would not be under a duty to raise the option of assisted dying with a patient.

The Bill states that there is nothing to stop them ‘exercising their professional judgment to decide if, and when, it is appropriate to discuss the matter with a person’.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Five key questions and answers on assisted dying law

Front cover of a hard copy of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater which will be debated and likely voted on on November 29, the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015. Picture date: Monday November 11, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS AssistedDying. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

A new law has been proposed to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the details of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill:

Only terminally adults who are expected to die within six months and who have been resident in England and Wales and registered with a GP for at least 12 months.

They must have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish – free from coercion or pressure – to end their life.

  • How would the process work?

The terminally ill person must make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die.

The process must involve two independent doctors being satisfied the person is eligible and the medics can consult a specialist in the person’s condition and get an assessment from an expert in mental capacity if deemed necessary. A High Court judge must hear from at least one of the doctors regarding the application and can also question the dying person as well as anyone else they consider appropriate.

There must be at least seven days between the two doctors making their assessments and a further 14 days after the judge has made a ruling, for the person to have a period of reflection on their decision.

For someone whose death is expected imminently, the 14-day period could be reduced to 48 hours.

  • What safeguards are there?

It would be illegal for someone to pressure, coerce or use dishonesty to get someone to make a declaration that they wish to end their life or to induce someone to self-administer an approved substance.

If someone is found guilty of either of these actions, they could face a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

  • How soon could an assisted dying service be running?

Ms Leadbeater has suggested an assisted dying service would not be up and running for around another two years from the point the law was passed, with “even more consultation to make sure we get it right” at that stage.

Where does Keir Starmer stand on assisted dying?

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock (14948279m) UK Prime Minister KEIR STARMER is seen leaving 10 Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions session. Keir Starmer leaves Number 10 for PMQs, London, England, United Kingdom - 27 Nov 2024

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he would vote today, saying he has a ‘huge amount of interest’ in the issue, but he declined to specify on which side he would come down.

But it has been reported the Prime Minister has given his strongest signal yet he will back assisted dying in what would be a landmark vote today.

Yesterday, Starmer insisted the bill would be a ‘genuinely free vote’, adding he did not want to place any pressure on Labour MPs unsure about which way to vote.

In 2015, the last time Parliament debated assisted dying, Starmer voted in favour of it.

Asked whether his views had changed since then, he said: I’ve obviously got a huge amount of interest and experience in this, having looked at every single case for five years that was ever investigated. I will therefore be casting my vote tomorrow.

In previous role as director of public prosecutions before he entered politics, Starmer set out guidance on when relatives would be charged for assisting suicide which he said then had convinced him of the ‘injustice’ of the current legislation.

Does the public support assisted dying?

The answer to this question varies.

Research by the Policy Institute and the Complex Life and Death Decisions group at King’s College London (KCL) in September suggested almost two-thirds of just over 2,000 adults surveyed in England and Wales want assisted dying to be legalised for terminally ill adults in the next five years.

But it showed the changeable nature of some people’s views, with some of those voicing support saying they could change their minds if they felt someone had been pressured into choosing an assisted death or had made the choice due to lack of access to care.

Overall, the polling found a fifth (20%) of people said they do not want assisted dying to be legalised in the next five years, while 63% said they do.

Campaigners from Care Not Killing said this polling showed public support for what they term “assisted suicide” had lessened in the past decade and highlighted the statistics around those who are concerned about people feeling pressure to end their lives.

More recent polling from More in Common found 65% support the principle of assisted dying while 13% oppose it and the rest are unsure. Its polling of around 2,000 people across Great Britain this month also found that almost a third (30%) were unaware a debate on the issue was happening in Parliament.

Around a quarter of those polled said eligibility for assisted dying should be on the basis of life expectancy, which is the case with the current Bill, but 51% said people with terminal degenerative paralysing conditions should be eligible, something the current Bill does not propose.

Assisted dying: What is it? And what does the law say?

(FILES) Campaigners from "Dignity in Dying" hold a placard during a demonstration outside The Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Parliament in central London, on October 16, 2024, during a gathering in favour of the proposal to legalise euthanasia in the UK. British parliamentarians hold a landmark debate on November 29, 2024 on a divisive and emotive bill that could set the UK on its way to legalising assisted dying for terminally ill people. A euthanasia bill was last debated, and defeated, in parliament in 2015 but public support for giving terminally ill people the choice to end their lives has since increased. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Before we look ahead to today’s proceedings, let’s take a look at what assisted dying actually means and where the law stands on it at the moment.

Here are three key questions and answers to get you going:

This, and the language used, varies depending on who you ask.

Pro-change campaigners Dignity in Dying argue that, along with good care, dying people who are terminally ill and mentally competent adults deserve the choice to control the timing and manner of their death.

But the campaign group Care Not Killing uses the terms ‘assisted suicide’ and ‘euthanasia’, and argues that the focus should be on ‘promoting more and better palliative care’ rather than any law change.

They say legalising assisted dying could ‘place pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial, emotional or care burden upon others’ and argue the disabled, elderly, sick or depressed could be especially at risk.

Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.

  • What is happening at Westminster?

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater formally introduced her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament in October.

A debate and first vote are expected to take place on Friday.

If the Bill passes the first stage in the Commons, it will go to committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.

Ms Leadbeater’s Bill would apply only to England and Wales.

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Why MPs MUST press the pause button on this rushed dying bill

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 16: Kim Leadbeater, (C), the Labour MP behind the proposed bill, joins campaigners in Parliament Square on October 16, 2024 in London, England. The 'Terminally Ill Adult (End of Life) Bill' seeks to help terminally ill people with six to 12 months left to live to end their lives legally. As a safeguarding measure, it proposes that a judge and two doctors would need to sign off on a patient's request for an assisted death. A recent poll showed a majority of the public would support assisted deaths for the terminally ill. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The House of Commons votes on Friday on whether the State should give some of its citizens the right to kill themselves – and actively participate in their deaths.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill also sets out a legal and medical framework for when that right may be exercised, as well as the cold mechanics of how life would be extinguished.

There could hardly be a more profound moral issue, or a heavier responsibility on our elected representatives to examine every detail.

Yet this Bill was published only three weeks ago, and MPs are being allowed just five hours of debate before voting on it.

While that may be nothing unusual for a private members’ Bill, of which this is an example, is it really enough time to deal with a subject of such magnitude?

  • Read the full comment piece here

Right-to-die vote is on a knife edge

by Sam Merriman, The Daily Mail’s social affairs correspondent

The vote on assisted dying was on a knife edge last night in the countdown to the crunch Commons debate.

While a majority of the MPs to publicly declare their position have come out in favour of introducing one of the most significant social changes in Britain’s history, the outcome still remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he would vote today, saying he has a ‘huge amount of interest’ in the issue, but he declined to specify on which side he would come down.

Meanwhile Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the proposed change to the law, spoke of being ‘emotionally ruined’ by weeks of campaigning and told how she can no longer walk down the street without somebody revealing a personal story.

After a five-hour debate today, MPs are expected to vote for the first time in almost a decade on whether to legalise assisted dying.

Assisted dying law to be debated in Parliament

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as MPs debate introducing assisted dying laws to England and Wales for the first time.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow some terminally-ill people to choose when they can die if it is passed into law.

The proposed legislation has divided Parliament with many MPs declaring they will vote for and against, while a large number including Sir Keir Starmer have yet to state their intention.

Today we will hear five hours of debate followed by a possible vote on whether the bill will progress to the next reading at which point MPs can table amendments.

Join us as we bring you the latest updates and reactions from throughout the day.

Key Updates

  • Disabled MP tells Commons backing Bill was one of her ‘hardest decisions’

  • Starmer will not reveal vote on assisted dying

  • Lib Dem MP – ‘My opposition to assisted dying is grounded in compassion’

  • Watch: Tory MP tells Commons he wants right-to-die choice for himself

  • Watch: ‘I’ve changed my mind on assisted dying after listening to constituents’

  • Tory MP – Anyone with serious illness could be classed terminally ill

  • Doctors and hospice workers oppose change in law in ‘great majority’

  • Kim Leadbeater – Assisted dying bill contains ‘strongest safeguards in the world’

  • Labour MP tells MPs public want ‘change in the law’

  • Watch: Tory MP claims assisted dying crosses ‘irreversible medical red line’ for doctors

  • Kim Leadbeater – Assisted dying provides ‘autonomy and dignity’

  • Attempt to kill bill fails

  • Watch live: MPs debate assisted dying law in Commons

  • Assisted dying bill debate starts in Parliament

  • More than 100 MPs expected to speak before vote this afternoon

  • Would doctors have to take part in an assisted death?

  • Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Five key questions and answers on assisted dying law

  • Where does Keir Starmer stand on assisted dying?

  • Assisted dying: What is it? And what does the law say?

  • DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Why MPs MUST press the pause button on this rushed dying bill

  • Right-to-die vote is on a knife edge

  • Assisted dying law to be debated in Parliament

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