EXCLUSIVE: Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who spearheaded the last attempt to legalise assisted dying, writes for The Mirror about why she believes MPs should vote in favour of assisted dying legislation ahead of a vote in the Commons on Friday
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater spearheaded the last attempt to legalise assisted dying(Image: PA)
When MPs voted to back my Bill to give choice to dying people in their last days and weeks we were offering them hope and the dignity they were asking for. They thank me for it every day. So too do so many people who don’t want to see their own loved ones suffer unnecessarily.
That hope was dashed when a small minority of unelected members of the House of Lords stopped it becoming law. That was undemocratic and wrong. People in this country support assisted dying by a big majority. On Friday we can put that right and we must.
My thoughts will be with those terminally ill people who have sadly died since I first brought in my Bill two years ago. They believed Parliament was going to change the unjust and often cruel way the law works now but passed away before we could do it.
We have let down terminally ill people and their loved ones for far too long. All they are asking for is choice. That choice has to be offered with strict safeguards to make sure no vulnerable person is pushed into a decision that isn’t what they genuinely want.
I worked tirelessly to make sure those protections were in place and MPs decided to support the Bill not once but twice. It is the safest in the world.
Now my colleague Lauren Edwards MP has brought the Bill back so the hope we offered is not extinguished.
The House of Commons has the chance to say that what terminally ill people deserve and what our constituents want can be delivered. That will help restore trust in our politics but most important of all it will give hope back to those who fear a painful and undignified death that even the very best end of life care cannot prevent.
