Text of UK assisted suicide bill published

Labour MP Lauren Edwards has published the text of her bill to introduce assisted suicide in the UK. The legislation is largely the same as the bill introduced by Kim Leadbeater in the previous session of Parliament.

Edwards, who is MP for Rochester and Strood, came second in the MPs’ ballot for Private Member’s Bills. She has chosen to reintroduce the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill first proposed by Kim Leadbeater MP. That bill was passed by the House of Commons, but ran out of time in the House of Lords before the end of the parliamentary session.

The text of Edwards’ bill has been published today, which is broadly the same as Leadbeater’s bill. It contains some amendments which were approved in the House of Lords without a vote during the previous session. The bill is scheduled to have its second reading in the Commons on 11th September and, if passed, will return to the House of Lords for continued scrutiny by Peers.

Edwards has called this bill “unfinished business”, saying: “MPs have already voted in favour of this long-overdue change to the law. By publishing the bill again, I am simply asking my colleagues in the elected chamber to return it to the Lords so they can finish their proper task of scrutinising and revising it in the usual way.”

Lord Falconer, who sponsored Kim Leadbeater’s bill in the Lords, and will sponsor Edwards’ bill said: “Earlier this year, over 200 peers wrote to MPs asking for this bill to be returned to us as soon as possible so we can finish the job that was interrupted at the end of the last session of parliament. Along with so many of my fellow members of the House of Lords, I am delighted that Lauren Edwards is giving us the opportunity to do that.”

The reintroduction of the bill in a near-identical form raises concerns that the Parliament Acts could be used to bypass the House of Lords. The Acts allow a bill that has been passed by the House of Commons in two consecutive sessions of Parliament to become law without the approval of the Lords.

Using the Parliament Acts for this kind of legislation would be unusual and controversial, but it could be a way for the bill to be made law. Edwards said: “The Parliament Acts are just there as a back stop or insurance policy against another undemocratic filibuster that would thwart the will of the elected chamber. Like any insurance policy, nobody wants to have to use it.”

Responding to the publication of the Bill, CARE's Director of Advocacy and Policy, former MP Caroline Ansell, said: "It is a democratic outrage that MPs are being effectively asked to rubber stamp the same, irredeemably flawed assisted suicide Bill, which was so clearly rejected by the Lords and barely made it through its Third Reading in the Commons.

“Lord Falconer, who oversaw the Bill in the Lords, tabled over 70 amendments to the Bill, recognising that this Bill is not good enough to safeguard the vulnerable, not to mention the fact that a House of Lords Committee described some of the Bill’s clauses as “highly inappropriate”.

"In light of all this, we strongly urge MPs to reject Ms Edwards' Bill and instead push for new debates on improving access to social and palliative care across the UK."