North London MPs debate assisted dying bill ahead of vote

MPs are today (Friday) debating a private member's bill from Spen Valley MP Kim Leadbeater that would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults with six months or less to live.

The free vote allows MPs to "vote with their conscience". 

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Prime Minister and Holborn and St Pancras MP Sir Keir Starmer backed assisted dying when it was last debated in Parliament in 2015 - but has not revealed how he will vote.

The Ham&High has contacted MPs to ask which way they are voting and why.

Ahead of the debate, Golders Green and Finchley MP Sarah Sackman said on X yesterday (Thursday, November 28) that she would vote in favour of the bill.

Sarah Sackman MP for Golders Green and Finchley has said she will support the bill (Image: Sarah Sackman MP)

In her statement she said: "I know that people's attitudes towards assisted dying are diverse, complex and heartfelt.

"People on all sides of the debate have impressed me with their compassion and preciousness which they attach to every individual life. 

"My central reason for supporting the Bill is a respect for individual autonomy. The right to exercise free will and control over our bodies is something which is core to what makes us human.

"I am struck that we enjoy control over so many aspects of our lives and yest the process of death - the single experience which will come to us all - is one over which we have no control."

Protesters gathered outside Parliament and as the debate began in the Commons, many opinions emerged.

Brent West MP Barry Gardiner warned that some terminally ill people may feel assisted dying is something they “ought” to take up.

The Brent West MP intervened in a speech by Ms Leadbeater, saying: “My concern is that she has focused today on the individual and the individual choice. But we are here to legislate for society as a whole and in legislating, what we are saying if we pass this Bill is that this is OK to take that choice.”

When she replied “absolutely” he continued: “And there will be some people who are in that situation with six months of their life to go who actually will then feel ‘ought I to do this? Is this something that I now should do?’

“And it brings into play a whole set of considerations which are about ‘is it better for my family? Is it financially better for my family?’ in ways that at the moment are out of scope.

"So I think rather than simply focusing on the individual suffering, which we all recognise is acute, we must actually broaden it out to the impact this legislation will have on society as a whole."

She replied: “What I would suggest is that actually, this Bill will give society a much better approach towards end of life.

“We’re already seeing conversations about dying and death in a way that we haven’t seen, I don’t think, enough in this country. We have to take a more holistic view.”

Ms Leadbeater had stressed: “We need to be clear, a vote to take this Bill forward today is not a vote to implement the law tomorrow. It is a vote to continue the debate.

“It is a vote to subject the Bill to line-by-line scrutiny in Bill Committee, at report stage and at third reading – and then of course the Bill will go to the Lords for what I have no doubt will be further robust debate and scrutiny.”

Hackney MP Diane Abbott suggested there is a “better Bill” on assisted dying that could come forward in the future, as she said she “cannot vote for a Bill” with doubts about the safeguards within it.

The Mother of the House and Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington told the Commons: “I cannot vote for a Bill where I have doubts about whether they will be protected. We can come back, we can have a commission, we can craft a better Bill, but I will not be voting for this Bill this morning.”

She added: “I am not against assisted dying in any circumstances. If this Bill passes, we will have the NHS as a fully funded 100% suicide service but palliative care will only be funded at 30% at best.”

Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier wiped away tears as she spoke of her daughter’s admission to hospital with acute pancreatitis and how “good medicine” can relieve the pain.

Former minister Dame Meg, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, told the Commons: “The principle at stake is that we do cross a Rubicon whereby somebody who is terminally ill by the definition of this Bill is assisted by the state to die. This is a fundamental change in the relationship between the state and the citizen, and the patient and their doctor.

“If we have a scintilla of doubt about allowing the state that power, we should vote against this today.”

Dame Meg said a “failure in palliative care and support is not a reason to continue” with the Bill, adding about her daughter: “She was admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis as a teenager so this Bill would not have covered her at that point, but I did not know for five days, in fact many months, whether she would live or die.

“Those first five days she did not sleep and she was crying out in pain. But I saw what good medicine can do that palliated that pain, that got her to a place where although for two-and-a-half months she was unable to eat, she was saved and the key was she was not in pain – well, she was in pain but it was managed.”