The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will either clear the House of Commons and move to the Lords, or fail completely
The UK is “behind the curve” among progressive nations, the assisted dying bill’s sponsor, Kim Leadbeater, has said on the eve of one of the most consequential votes for social change in England and Wales.
The Labour MP said the circumstances may never be right again to pass such a bill, which would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales for terminally ill people with less than six months to live, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel of experts.
Her intervention came amid more warnings about the safeguards in the bill, including from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and disability activists, who will protest outside parliament on Friday at the final vote in the Commons.
Opponents believe the bill will not offer sufficient protection to those with mental illness or disability or those who might be coerced by abusers. On Thursday, another leading Labour MP, Dan Carden, said he would vote against the bill and the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, urged her MPs to oppose it.
