Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Richard Burgon Excerpts

Friday 20th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Kim Leadbeater]

I thank the hon. Member for that intervention, and she is absolutely right; the detail does matter. That is why I am so grateful to colleagues who have engaged in the detail. We know that there are different views within the public, and we have to take on board the concerns of vulnerable groups—that is why the safeguards are so important—but I would also say that there is no one more vulnerable than someone who is dying.

[Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Kim Leadbeater]

I am just going to make some progress.

Patients must have

“an inevitably progressive illness or disease which cannot be reversed by treatment”

and a person is not considered to be terminally ill only because they have a disability or a mental disorder. These clear, strict criteria, plus the multiple capacity assessments, exclude possible serious mental health disorders such as anorexia.

I was also very pleased to support the change advocated for by Marie Curie and Hospice UK, which would ensure an assessment of palliative and end-of-life care as part of the first report on the Act. We know from other countries, in no small part due to the 14-month inquiry by the Health and Social Care Committee, that palliative care and assisted dying can and do work side by side to give terminally ill patients the care and choice they deserve in their final days. It should not be an either/or for dying people, and we need to channel our energies into supporting all options for terminally ill people.

[Kim Leadbeater]

I thank him for his intervention, but I would say, as I have said previously, that people working in palliative care have a mixed range of views on this subject. I have met with palliative care doctors, and some are very supportive of a change in the law because of the suffering they have seen.

[Richard Burgon]

Will my hon. Friend give way on that particular point?

[Kim Leadbeater]

I am just going to make some progress, if I may. But, as I was saying, it is an either/or decision for us today: either we vote for the safe, effective, workable reform contained in this Bill, or we say that the status quo is acceptable.

Over recent months, I have heard hundreds of stories from people who have lost loved ones in deeply difficult and traumatic circumstances, along with many terminally ill people themselves. I spent some time with some of these families yesterday. They are real people with real stories and they deserve to be heard.

Adil’s terminally ill father took his own life by buying drugs on the dark web. It was his third attempt, and Adil found him in a truly desperate state. He and his sister will never get over that night, nor the police investigation that followed. Katie waved her mum off as she made the lonely and costly journey to Switzerland, where she had a peaceful and dignified death. But the family had no chance to say a proper goodbye and her dad made the journey home grieving and alone.

Others have had to watch their loved ones die harrowing deaths despite receiving excellent end-of-life care. Warwick’s wife Ann, suffering from peritoneal cancer, had the maximum dose of sedative, but it was not enough to stop the choking and suffocation, and she begged him to help her put an end to her suffering. But he did not want her last memory to be of him stood over her with a pillow. There are many, many more such stories.

Perhaps most importantly, I have spoken to terminally ill people themselves. We have spent a lot of time talking about them, but not always with them. Pamela and Sophie both have terminal breast cancer, and they shared their stories yesterday. Pamela is a proud Christian who just wants to have choice when her time comes. Sophie, who is allergic to opioids, wants to ensure that her beautiful daughter has nothing but happy memories of their time together. Not supporting the Bill today is not a neutral act. It is a vote for the status quo. It fills me with despair to think that MPs could be here in another 10 years’ time hearing the same stories.

[Richard Burgon]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way; she is being very kind. I came into this House supporting the principle of assisted dying, and I thought very carefully before voting against the Bill on Second Reading. There are differing views, but I want to ask my hon. Friend, before MPs put their name not to the principle of assisted dying but to this Bill specifically, why the vast majority of primary care doctors, geriatricians and groups representing people with disabilities, eating disorders and domestic violence are all opposed not to the principle but to this Bill specifically. Some people who are supportive of the principle of assisted dying do not support this specific Bill; can my hon. Friend explain their opposition?

[Kim Leadbeater]

I think we have covered that point already. These are not homogeneous groups of people; they have different views and opinions.

If we look at the inconsistencies in the current law, it just does not make sense. If someone with a terminal illness voluntarily stops eating and drinking, it is legal for them to starve themselves to death. A competent patient has the right to refuse foods and fluids even if they will die. The exercising of that right is sometimes proposed as an alternative to assisted dying. I suppose it could be argued that starving oneself to death is one way of taking control at the end of life, but it is a deeply traumatic experience for the person and their loved ones, and there are people here today who have direct experience of that.