Dying decision day

Today (Friday) is a very important day in the campaign to allow terminally ill people in the UK facing the prospect of an unpleasant death to call time when they have had enough of it. Otherwise known as assisted dying - assisted dying which does not involve taking oneself off to Switzerland (with suitable dental records) or plotting some more or less messy suicide.

Important because it will see our House of Commons debating Kim Leadbetter's private member's bill on assisted dying, a debate which may well come to a vote. A vote which might or might not reflect the long standing desire for change in a large majority of voting members' constituents.

The last such outing for the issue was the House of Lords debate in 2021.

An issue which is unlikely to affect a large number of people - perhaps as many as a small number of thousands, out of a total of well over half a million deaths each year - but one which is important to them.

For an easy read there is reference 1. For those with a taste for the arcana of the House of Commons, there are references 2 and 3.

PS 1: 15:55: stop press: neither Dignity in Dying at reference 1 nor Bing seem to have caught up, but Google is on the case. And at reference 5 we have: 'The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has passed its Second Reading – the Bill’s first key hurdle on its path to becoming law – with 330 votes in favour and 275 against. / This is the first time in history that the House of Commons has voted in favour of the principle of assisted dying for the terminally ill'.

And Sky News, of all people, were the first - on my laptop anyway - to tell me how the new MP for Epsom & Ewell voted. An aye, which is a very welcome change from the seemingly dyed-in-the-wool nay from her predecessor, Chris Grayling.

PS 2: 16:00: Bing has caught up now, with reports and results coming through.

PS 3: 16:10: perhaps Dignity in Dying are out celebrating this huge step forward in their long campaign. Website will have to wait!

PS 4: 07:26: they have now surfaced. I have the email.

References

Reference 1: https://www.dignityindying.org.uk/. 

Reference 2: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3774.

Reference 3: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10123/.

Reference 4: England’s palliative care ‘postcode lottery’ casts shadow over assisted dying debate: Critics of proposed legislation argue for better end-of-life care ahead of vote on Friday - Laura Hughes, Amy Borrett and Anna Gross, Financial Times - 2024. This rather down-beat piece in the Financial Times was the source of the snap above.

Reference 5: https://humanists.uk/2024/11/29/breaking-mps-vote-in-favour-of-assisted-dying/.