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Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill has been declared “dead” as it appears increasingly likely it will run out of time in this parliamentary session.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was passed in the House of Commons last year but faced heavy scrutiny in the House of Lords, where it also needs to pass as part of the legislative process.
Right to Life UK said the fact that 131 peers had either spoken against the bill or signed amendments to it was an indication of the strength of concern surrounding the legislation.
Assisted suicide was not included as a policy commitment in Labour’s election manifesto and was instead introduced to Parliament as a Private Member’s Bill, meaning it is only debated on Fridays and automatically fails if not passed by the end of the current parliamentary session in the spring.
Right to Life UK said the bill will “almost certainly” run out of time in the House of Lords. As the government’s chief whip in the Lords has already confirmed that the government will not commit any more time to it, the campaign group expects that assisted suicide will not become law in England and Wales any time soon.
Right to Life CEO, Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, welcomed the news.
“The assisted suicide Bill is now dead in this parliamentary session and mortally wounded beyond,” he said.
“Despite spin from the pro-assisted suicide lobby, the bill is not failing because of a determined filibuster by a select few. This is a misleading and dishonest myth.
“Rather, it is failing because it is a badly drafted piece of legislation and, after appropriate and necessary scrutiny, Peers have rightly determined that the Bill would not be safe or workable.”
Other figures to welcome the news include Scottish Conservative MP John Lamont who said the bill “was not properly considered and lacked support from the Royal Colleges and organisations representing disabled people”.
Former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said it was “very good news” that the bill is unlikely to pass.
Dr Calum Miller, a doctor and pro-life advocate, said on X, “The assisted suicide bill is AS GOOD AS DEAD in the UK. An enormous victory for life, sanity, and the most vulnerable in the UK. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this fightback!”
Former TV presenter and pro-assisted suicide campaigner, Dame Esther Rantzen drew criticism after pointing the finger at “religious people” in an interview with Sky News.
Asked if legalising assisted suicide in England and Wales had just got harder, she said, “It was always difficult because there were always lobbyists – particularly, I think, religious people who have their own beliefs, which mean that they would choose not to ask for assisted death and who want to impose those beliefs on people like me who don’t share them.”
The Christian Institute, responding to her comments, said, “We’re some of those ‘religious people’ getting in the way of assisted suicide. But part of God’s common grace means you don’t have to be Christian to understand this abysmal bill puts countless vulnerable people at risk. The quicker it’s consigned to the parliamentary rubbish heap the better.”
While assisted suicide may not come into law in England and Wales anytime soon, it is set to be available in Jersey in the not too distant future after passing the final legislative stage on Thursday. Only Royal Assent is needed for it to now become law on the island, with the first assisted suicides possible from next summer.
Jersey follows the Isle of Man to become the second part of the British Isles to legalise assisted suicide.
Separate legislation is still being considered in Scotland.
