Many constituents have been in touch with me regarding the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Given the important nature of this issue, I want share how I intend to vote on Friday 29th November when the bill will be debated in the House of Commons, and the reasons for my decision.
I have always fought for a fairer, more equal society in which everyone is given the opportunity to live a full life and receives the support they need to thrive.
Fourteen years of consecutive Conservative governments has left our NHS and social care system in crisis and under immense pressure, with palliative care significantly underfunded and hospices reliant on charity. This has resulted in poor quality end-of-life care for far too many.
Therefore, I strongly believe our focus should be on improving social care and ensuring every individual has access to the dignity and support they need. Assisted dying must never become a substitute for high-quality palliative care or social support.
I am deeply concerned that there are inadequate safeguards in the bill to protect the most vulnerable in our society from coercion to end their lives. The bill requires doctors to assess for coercion but does not specify what coercion would consist of or how doctors would assess for this.
The bill states that before a doctor can countersign a declaration for a person to end their own life, the doctor must be satisfied that the person has been informed about palliative, hospice, and other care options. I am deeply concerned that in the current context people would be choosing between poor quality palliative care and assisted dying. Put simply, the choice wouldn’t be a fair one.
People will have different views on the principle of assisted dying. MPs, however, are not asked to vote on the principle of assisted dying but the specifics of this bill. The specifics, in my view, lack detail and a mere five hours is not enough time to improve the specifics of this bill.
Many disabled people have raised their concerns with me that this bill would leave open the opportunity for external pressure on them to end their lives prematurely. Moreover, disabled people regularly struggle to access treatment and palliative care and the Charity Disability Rights UK rightly points out that assisted dying will not be an informed choice for many of the most vulnerable people. As a lifelong disability rights campaigner, I cannot take this risk.
The UN Convention Rights of Disabled People, signed by the Labour Government, – Article 10 Right to Life – requires states to ensure that disabled people effectively enjoy their inherent right to life on an equal basis with others. This includes ensuring that disabled people have access to healthcare on par with their non-disabled peers.
For these reasons, I will be voting against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. I appreciate how deeply sensitive this topic is, and I recognise there are valuable arguments on both sides of this debate, based on very real and difficult lived experiences.
I came into politics was to help fix our public services, strengthen our NHS and ensure that every individual – including disabled people – has access to support at the point of need.
My focus is on fixing these foundations of our society. Without this, the proposed changes to assisted dying risk the safety and rights of many people, including disabled people.