Assisted suicide bill faces backlash

The Assisted Dying bill and absence of safeguards continues to be fiercely criticised by MPs, medics and lawyers. Even if MPs vote in mid-May in favour of the proposals, the deadline for implementation could be up to four years away.

In the face of waning support among parliamentarians, particularly the opposition parties, the bill’s sponsor Kim Leadbeater has insisted it will be “the strongest” such legislation in the world.

On the final day of the committee stage, Leadbeater said: “I am pleased that the Committee has improved the Bill in many ways, and added extra safeguards to what was already the strongest assisted dying legislation in the world.” However, a group of six Labour MPs, including two select committee chairs, has written to all Labour MPs saying the promise that the bill would be strengthened at committee stage has not been kept. They urge them to oppose the bill, called it “dangerous” and “not fit to become law”.