Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK’s Labour Party, is facing mounting pressure to fulfill his promise of allowing a parliamentary vote on legalizing assisted dying. This issue has resurfaced in Parliament as a bill is set to be introduced in the House of Lords on Friday, though its journey to the House of Commons remains uncertain.
Lord Falconer, a former lord chancellor under Tony Blair, will introduce the private member’s bill aimed at permitting assisted dying for terminally ill persons. This move follows his success in a recent ballot of peers. “I’ve been campaigning for a long time on this issue,” Charlie Falconer, the Labour peer introducing the bill, told CNN. “It has never felt for me a more favorable time to try and embark on legislation,” he said.
Starmer expressed his support for changing the law in March of this year. He assured television presenter Esther Rantzen, who has terminal cancer and is advocating for assisted dying, that if he became prime minister, he would ensure parliamentary time to debate the issue and allow a free vote. He reiterated this pledge after winning the general election.
However, some advocates are worried that Starmer may delay until a private member’s bill is introduced in the Commons, with a ballot of MPs scheduled for September. Falconer stated that while Starmer was committed to securing parliamentary time for an assisted dying bill, a Commons bill would offer a more certain path than one originating in the Lords.
Meanwhile, a bill to permit assisted dying has passed its third reading in the Isle of Man’s legislature, the House of Keys. It now advances to the upper house, which can amend but not block the bill. This legislation would allow assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent individuals who have resided in the Isle of Man for at least five years.
