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Today, I voted for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, also known as the Assisted Dying Bill, at its third reading in the House of Commons, and I want to explain why.
I really strongly support the principle of assisted dying. I want to have this option for myself, and I want my loved ones to have this option too.
However, a lot of very valid concerns have been raised about the bill. Because even if safeguards are perfect on paper, if they are not followed or do not work well in practice then they are not worth anything. I am especially concerned about the potential risk to vulnerable people, and in particular the potential for a compound effect of the assisted dying bill alongside cuts to disability benefits, the government’s lack of a plan to address the social care crisis, and the postcode lottery in palliative care, the majority of which is provided by charities rather than public services.
I remember the unequal impacts of the covid pandemic, where a disproportionate number of people of colour died, and where some disabled people had Do Not Resuscitate orders put on their records without their knowledge or consent. I am not worried about a slippery slope of legislation becoming more lenient, because the way our legislative system is set up in the UK and the way the bill was drafted means that is much less likely to happen than in other countries that have assisted dying. But I am worried about inequality in UK society producing unwanted outcomes, as it did during covid.
In particular, I am worried that rising inequality caused by regressive policy from this government will cause low-income or otherwise vulnerable people to get sicker than they would in a fairer society. In some cases, this will mean someone gets a terminal illness sooner than they would have done otherwise, or when they might not have got it at all. This is one of many horrible consequences of the UK’s increasingly unequal society.
So I have agonised over this decision for months. I sponsored many amendments to provide as much safeguarding as possible, and I worked hard to hear from and understand people with different views on this sensitive issue. This included meeting and hearing from both supporters and opponents (including disabled people), taking part in briefings and information sessions with medical professionals, carefully considering the scores of amendments that were added to the bill, and replying to the many hundreds of emails and letters from constituents writing in with questions, personal views and experiences.
Despite my concerns, I decided to support the Assisted Dying Bill at third reading today. This is because I realised that even if an unequal society means that somebody develops a terminal illness when they might not have otherwise, or might not have until much later in life, once they have reached the final few months of their life, I want them to have the choice to shorten their suffering and to have agency by choosing an assisted death. Because people with several thousand pounds to spare already have this power – they can go to Dignitas. So no matter the reason why someone is near the end of their life–even if they became terminally ill in part because of inequality – that does not mean that they should suffer a further inequality of being too poor to be allowed to choose when exactly is the right time for them to die.
So I will continue to fight, as I always have done, for a fairer society, as well as scrutinising the more detailed design and implementation of this Bill – including supporting any possible further strengthening of safeguards. But acknowledging that we have to deal with the world as it is now rather than as we wish it to be, even in this very unfair and potentially worsening unequal society, I still want all people to have this choice.