PM promises vote on assisted suicide

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to allow parliamentary time for a private member’s Bill to legalise assisted suicide.

The Prime Minister said last week that he was more determined than ever to afford MPs the opportunity to consider axing end-of-life protections for the vulnerable.

In March, Sir Keir stated that he is “personally in favour of changing the law”.

‘Double down’

When asked about his pre-election promise to allow a debate on the issue, the Prime Minister responded: “What I said was that we would provide time for this by way of a private member’s bill, and there will be a free vote.”

He added: “I’m not going back on the commitment I made, it’s just we have got to set out priorities for the first year or so, but I will double down on the commitment that we are going to do that”.

Earlier this year, in a phone call to Dame Esther Rantzen, Starmer acknowledged the “very powerful” arguments against assisted suicide.

However, he claimed “most people coalesce around the idea that there is a case where it is obviously compassionate, it is the settled intent of the individual, and there are safeguards with teeth to protect the vulnerable”.

Parliament

MPs from across the political spectrum recently spoke out against legalising assisted suicide during a debate in Parliament’s Westminster Hall.

In response to a petition calling for a vote on the issue, several MPs highlighted that in countries which have already changed the law, ‘safeguards’ have been eroded and overall suicides have increased, as has the number of people requesting to be killed for fear of being a burden.

Many MPs also spoke out against assisted suicide in a similar debate two years ago, while the most recent legislation to be voted on in the House of Commons was defeated by 330 to 118.