Labour MP to reintroduce assisted dying bill to Parliament

The assisted dying bill is set to return to Parliament after Labour MP Lauren Edwards announced she would reintroduce it as a private members’ bill.

The MP for Rochester and Strood came second in the recent private members’ ballot, giving an MP a chance to introduce their own bill for debate in Parliament.

Edwards, who voted in favour of the bill when fellow Labour MP Kim Leadbeater tried to pass her bill in the last session of Parliament, said she wanted to give the legislation another chance after it ran out of parliamentary time.

Peers in the House of Lords tabled more than a thousand amendments to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, effectively preventing the legislation from making further progress in Parliament.

It is understood that Edwards’ bill will be exactly the same as Leadbeater’s in the hope MPs will back it for a second time.

In a statement, Edwards said: “This long overdue change to the law was supported by MPs during the last session of Parliament and was prevented from passing only by the decision of a minority in the House of Lords to talk it out and stop it coming to a vote.

“I believe it is a fundamental democratic principle that the elected chamber, the House of Commons, should decide what does and does not become law in this country. We owe it to all those terminally ill people and their families who are depending on this bill to ensure that Parliament can come to a final decision on the question of choice at the end of life.

“Now is the opportunity for Parliament to fulfil the trust the public have put in us to correct a glaring injustice and pass this compassionate, safe and long overdue reform.”

Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed third reading in the House of Commons with a majority of 23, receiving the support of a majority of Labour MPs – with 224 voting in favour and 160 against.

Responding to the news, Labour MP for West Lancashire Ashley Dalton said she was “very sad” to see the “deeply flawed and unsafe” bill return to Parliament.

She said: “Voters put us in power to reduce the cost of living and fix the NHS. We have debated this deeply divisive and flawed assisted dying bill for over a year and supporters have refused to listen or to make the necessary changes.

“This bill would hand sweeping unchecked powers over life and death and our NHS to future governments, whatever their political persuasion. We should not be using more of our limited time and political capital on something that simply isn’t safe or a priority for the people who put us in power.”

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