On Friday the 29th of November the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will receive its second reading. The bill, if passed, would allow terminally ill people with 6 months or less to live to have the option to end their own life. This will be a free vote, determined by conscience instead of by politics.
I’d like to thank constituents who have written to me about this issue. I have weighed up both sides of the debate very carefully, and after much consideration, I have decided to vote against the bill. I believe we are not yet at the stage in this country to provide the proper safeguards to protect vulnerable people at the end of their life.
Ultimately, I believe it is not the states’ role to sanction when someone should die. It is the role of the state to keep people safe, and I don’t see that this bill will do that in its current form. I am concerned that the safeguards are not yet strong enough and the criteria could shift, potentially leaving vulnerable people more at risk. Agreeing to the bill, in its current limited form, would lay the path for it to go further in the future.
We need to focus instead on reforming our health and social care system so we can make people as comfortable as possible at the end of their life. We need to fund and reform palliative care and the hospice sector, extend provisions to ensure equitable access to services, and emphasise dignity in end of life.
I recognise people in my constituency and beyond will have real experience of this and feel very strongly one way or the other. I very much appreciate the emotional and complex nature of this debate and I hope that you will understand my decision.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 