This is Prospect’s rolling coverage of the assisted dying debate. This page will be updated with the latest from our correspondent, Mark Mardell. Read the rest of our coverage here
6pm
Kim Leadbeater has announced that the next Commons debate on the assisted dying bill will take place on Friday 16th May.
In a letter to all MPs, Leadbeater said: “The next debate in the Commons for Report Stage will now take place on Friday 16th May.
“I greatly appreciate the effort colleagues have made to keep the previously announced date free in their diaries, but I have listened carefully to members on all sides of the issue who have told me that they would welcome more time to consider the amendments to the bill in committee, to see the new version of the bill as a result of these important changes, and other related matters. I fully appreciate the dedication and seriousness with which colleagues are approaching this hugely important issue, and feel I have a duty to take these comments on board. I have always said it is more important to do this work properly than to do it quickly, which is why I ensured the committee had plenty of time to do its work and why I think it is now sensible to allow all MPs a few more weeks for their own consideration. I am absolutely confident that by doing so, it will not delay the bill’s passage towards Royal Assent should both Houses give it their support.
“I believe the amendments in committee have significantly strengthened what was already the most robust assisted dying legislation in the world, but I appreciate that some of those changes are significant and colleagues will want time to study them. Additionally, I had a very productive meeting with representatives from the Welsh government and officials in Cardiff yesterday and I think it is important to allow them more time to consider how the bill as amended would apply in both England and Wales, should it become law. Furthermore, it is now my understanding that the Impact Assessment for the Bill will not be published this week and clearly members will want the opportunity to look at that ahead of Report Stage.
“Whilst the Government is neutral on the issue, I am very grateful for the considerable amount of hard work by officials which has ensured that members are presented with a robust, workable and operable piece of legislation, and it is my responsibility to ensure that colleagues have ample opportunity to give it their full consideration.”
8th April
11am
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed he’ll vote against the assisted dying bill when it returns to the Commons—but says he wants to ensure that, if it does pass, it’s workable in practice.
In a wide-ranging interview on the Today programme, Nick Robinson put the question to Streeting. It was one of those genially combative exchanges that could serve as a masterclass in political interviewing—two of the best in the business, sparring at the top of their game, especially over Trump and tariffs. For me, the swordplay was more compelling than the substance. But here’s what was actually said when Robinson pressed Streeting on the delay to implementation—a change many of Kim Leadbeater’s allies believe could fatally hobble the bill.
Nick Robinson: it might not happen now till 2029—assisted dying. Is that a reflection of your anxieties? Has she responded to your concerns, or do you still have concerns about the burden being borne out in service?
Wes Streeting: Well, I think what Kim has done is extremely helpful, because the way in which the government has approached this bill as it’s been going through—because the government as a whole is neutral on the question—is to seek to work with Kim and MPs who are both supporting the bill overall or opposing the bill overall, to make sure that whatever our own views on the merits of the bill itself, that the bill is workable. So that if MPs and peers choose to pass the assisted dying bill into law, that it is a workable law.
NR: Will you be voting for it?
WS: No, I won’t be voting for it, but I welcome the constructive approach that Kim Leadbeater has taken, because—
NR: Because you still have worries ?
WS: You know, my position on this is clear. Other colleagues in the government, including in my own departments, take a different view. That’s fine. It’s a free vote, and it will remain so as this bill goes through. But the government as a whole has sought to be constructive to make sure the bill—as decided by parliament—is workable. And I really welcome the constructive approach that Kim Leadbeater has taken through this process, working closely with ministers, my department, the Ministry of Justice, to make sure that the bill that she wants to see in law is workable in practice. I think that is the right approach for her to take, and for supporters of the bill to take—even if I might respectfully disagree with them on the merits of the bill overall.
NR: Health secretary, thank you for joining us.
7th April
The BBC’s medical editor Fergus Walsh has made two extraordinary films about assisted dying in North America—both well worth watching. Although they are as neutral and balanced as you would expect, the central person in both is someone who has chosen to die.
In California, 80-year-old Wayne Hawkins invites the cameras in as he takes the lethal dose. Thirty-five minutes later he is pronounced dead. I feel anxious about being a witness to this moment, sitting at home in front my laptop, worried that I will feel voyeuristic and ethically uncomfortable, but that isn’t the case. It is profoundly moving, and sad, but the sadness lessened because it is what he, his wife and his children wanted. Seeing him take the liquid that kills him somehow demystifies the process—and I find it hard to see how anyone could object to his choice.
The Canadian example is just as moving, but far more contentious—and even if Leadbeater’s bill does eventually become law in England and Wales, it would not be allowed here. That is because 39-year-old April Hubbard, far from having only six months to live, could go on for 40 years. She is not terminally ill. But she was born with Spina bifida and tells Fergus: “My suffering and pain are increasing and I don’t have the quality of life anymore that makes me happy and fulfilled.” Every time she moves or breathes, she says it feels like the tissues from the base of her spine “are being pulled like a rubber band that stretches too far”, and that her lower limbs leave her in agony.
Hubbard is a performance artist and intends to die on stage, in a big bed, surrounded by friends. She says she feels reassured by the knowledge she will have an assisted death. “Without that safety I don’t think I’d have the courage to keep taking the risk of living, and I think I would have made that choice to end it myself, and alone, and without the support of the people I love, long ago, and my fear is that that’s what will happen for many folks around the world.”
Indeed, that is exactly the truth of the situation in the UK even if the assisted dying bill becomes law. A combination of Leadbeater’s own deep pragmatic caution, the fears of disability campaigns amplified by those with religious objections, and cowed MPs more concerned about getting it wrong than getting it right has brought us here. It is a mix that makes for a law that still outrages opponents and is marginally more reassuring for some, but completely useless for others.
