To Sankarshan

Commons votes in favour of assisted dying

From Amit Roy

London, November 29, 2024

A packed House of Commons passed the assisted dying bill on Friday by 330 votes to 275, which means those in intolerable pain at the end of their lives can now look forward to legally asking doctors to offer them euthanasia.

People gathered outside parliament wept in joy or in sorrow as the Commons took the first step towards a fundamental change in the law.

Before the bill becomes law, it will go into committee stage with months of scrutiny by MPs.

This has been an agonising issue that has split the country – and indeed parliament.

The term euthanasia is defined as deliberately ending a life to relieve suffering, according to the UK’s National Health Service, while assisted suicide is helping someone to end his or her own life deliberately. Both have been illegal.

The prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, was among 234 Labour MPs who voted for the bill. But in a free vote, in which MPs could make a decision “according to their conscience”, 147 were against. There were 18 Labour MPs who abstained.

Among Tories, the former prime minister, Rishi Sunak, known to be a devout Hindu, was among 23 MPs who backed the bill. Indications are that Britain’s 2.5m Indian origin population, mostly Hindu or Sikh but with some Muslims from Gujarat also in the mix, are against the bill for reasons of faith. 92 Tories opposed the bill, while 3 abstained.

This is regarded as a moment of great social change, probably on a par with the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967.

Many have spoken about witnessing elderly parents or relatives go through prolonged periods of intense pain after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. However, others have expressed fears that the vulnerable will feel under pressure to end their lives. An equal number have argued that life is precious.

The bill has not been introduced by the government. It is a “private member’s bill” introduced by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater but she is being supported by the government. This suggests the bill will probably become law although this cannot be guaranteed.

Leadbeater said the “status quo is not fit for purpose” and her proposals could prevent “very harrowing, very distressing deaths”.

The bill says anyone who wants to end their life must be over 18 and live in England and Wales, and have been registered with a GP for at least 12 months; have the mental capacity to make the choice and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish, free from coercion or pressure; be expected to die within six months; make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die; and satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible – with at least seven days between each doctor’s assessment.

A High Court judge must hear from at least one of the doctors, and can question the dying person, or anyone else considered relevant.

After the judge has made a ruling, a patient would have to wait another 14 days before acting. A doctor would prepare the substance being used to end the patient’s life, but people would have to take it themselves. It would be illegal to pressure or coerce patients into declaring they want to end their life, carrying a possible 14-year prison sentence.

What might have tipped the balance in favour of the bill was an article in The Times by the former prime minister David Cameron. While he had opposed moves to legalise assisted dying in the past, he believed the current proposal was “not about ending life, it is about shortening death”.

Previously his main concern had been that “vulnerable people could be pressured into hastening their own deaths”, but he said he believed the current proposal contained “sufficient safeguards” to prevent this.

However, other former prime ministers – Gordon Brown, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – have all opposed the bill. Brown, a longstanding critic of assisted dying, said: “An assisted dying law, however well intended, would alter society’s attitude towards elderly, seriously ill and disabled people, even if only subliminally, and I also fear the caring professions would lose something irreplaceable – their position as exclusively caregivers.”

Among opinion makers, a former TV presenter, Esther Rantzen, 84, who is herself terminally ill, has supported the bill, while revealing she has signed up for euthanasia with Dignitas in Switzerland.

She described Leadbeater’s introduction of her bill as “extraordinary”.

“She put it all very clearly, taking interventions all the way through, and answering them without ever losing the thread of her argument. I was lost in admiration. She’s an extraordinary person.”

But there are opponents in Starmer’s cabinet, including the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, who declared the state should “never offer death as a service” and the new legislation was a “slippery slope towards death on demand”.

The Indian author, Zareer Masani, son of the Swatantra Party leader Minoo Masani, is in favour of assisted dying: “A mild stroke five years ago also left me with poor balance, requiring a stick unless I hold on to furniture. Should I soldier on, become dependent on paid carers and wait for the inevitable natural causes? Single, childless, with no siblings or close relatives, what would be the point? My last emotional anchor was my 16-year-old dog, Susie, who died last year.”

He has signed up with an organisation called Pegasos, and written an article: “Chronicle of My Death Foretold: In defence of dignity in departure.”