Assisted dying fears not realised, Australian MPs tell Westminster
Friday will be the first time the Commons has debated and voted on assisted dying in almost a decade.
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Your support makes all the difference.Politicians behind Australian assisted dying laws have written to MPs saying that end-of-life care there is “now safer and fairer than ever before”, on the eve of a major vote at Westminster.
Six parliamentarians who led reforms in their states insisted “none of the fears that were put forward as reasons not to change the law have been realised”.
The letter comes ahead of MPs taking part in what could be a five-hour debate on Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday.
It will be the first time the Commons has debated and voted on assisted dying in almost a decade.
Lord David Cameron has meanwhile become the first among the UK’s living former prime ministers to say he would back the Bill if it made it to the Lords, describing it as “not about ending life, it is about shortening death”.
The Australian politicians’ letter came as Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson warned disabled people are “really worried” about a Bill she described as “very loose” in terms of safeguards.
Ms Leadbeater has argued her proposed legislation, requiring sign-off by two doctors and a High Court judge, is robust and potentially offers the “strictest protections” against coercion anywhere in the world.
But Baroness Grey-Thompson said she does not believe there are safeguards which can guarantee protection for vulnerable people.
She told the PA news agency: “I think there will always be vulnerable people. I can’t see safeguards that would be okay, that wouldn’t risk some people having their lives ended without them wanting to.”
End-of-life care in Australia is now safer and fairer than ever before and none of the fears that were put forward as reasons not to change the law have been realised
She said she has concerns about “how unscrupulous people would use (a new law)”, and argued that terminal illness could be open to interpretation.
She said: “If someone like me, as a paraplegic, got a pressure sore and it wasn’t healing, I would fit within that six-month diagnosis.
“I think Kim’s intentions are really good. I think she genuinely wants to do something, but this is the point – you can’t talk about emotion. And this is difficult, because you’ve got to look at what’s in the Bill.
“And what is in the Bill is quite scary. It’s very loose.”
Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and has argued strongly for a change in the law, wrote to MPs this week, urging them to attend the debate and vote on the “vital life-and-death issue”.
Baroness Thompson said: “It is important people vote, I would say it’s important people vote no.”
A tally by PA, as of Wednesday evening, indicated around 80 MPs so far intend to support the Bill, with just over 70 opposing it.
Of the 650 MPs in the Commons, most have yet to reveal publicly how they will vote, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. He previously supported a change in the law in 2015 when the last assisted dying Bill in the Commons was rejected.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is among those who have stated they remain undecided as they study the Bill’s contents.
The Cabinet is split on the issue, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood intending to vote no, while Energy Secretary and former Labour leader Ed Miliband is supporting the Bill alongside Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
The letter from Australian politicians, in conjunction with pro-change campaign group Dignity in Dying and shared with PA, told MPs: “Not everyone agreed with the laws but ultimately a majority of members in each house saw that the status quo which permitted horrific end of life suffering was not acceptable in a modern humane society – a view largely reflected in the community.
“Support for the reforms now that they are in place has grown and there is no appetite for Australia to repeal these laws.”
They added: “End-of-life care in Australia is now safer and fairer than ever before and none of the fears that were put forward as reasons not to change the law have been realised.”
Christian Action Research and Education (Care) has described Friday’s debate as being on a “profoundly important” issue and urged MPs to “reject assisted suicide because it is morally wrong and practically dangerous”.
Its chief executive, Ross Hendry, said: “This practice fundamentally alters the value societies ascribe to human life.
“Assisted suicide creates a two-tier society where some lives are seen as not worth living and afforded less protection. Rather than stepping into the business of ending life, the government should seek to bolster existing, life-affirming support for dying people.”
Ms Leadbeater has described the term “assisted suicide” as “quite offensive to some people”, arguing that assisted dying is about people who want to shorten their deaths rather than end their lives.
The Bill, which covers England and Wales only, proposes terminally ill adults with less than six months to live who have a settled wish to die should have the option to do so.