Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Vicky Foxcroft Excerpts

Friday 20th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham North) (Lab)]

This is my first speech in this Chamber since the general election, and if I am honest, I wish I was not speaking in this debate, as I wish this legislation was not being put forward. I have not always been opposed to assisted dying. Indeed, in 2015, I voted in favour of the Bill put forward by Rob Marris MP, but that was before I served four years as shadow Minister for disabled people. During that time, I spoke to hundreds of disabled people and the organisations that support them. They were, and remain, extremely fearful of assisted dying.

I took on that role at the start of the covid pandemic. Disabled people were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Nearly six in every 10 people who died were disabled. Many had “do not resuscitate” notices unilaterally pasted on their medical records, without them being informed. It made them fear for their lives. It made them fear that the authorities thought that their lives were worth less. It also made them fearful of what would happen if assisted dying was brought forward. That is why Disability Rights UK and other disabled people’s organisations have moved from the neutral position they had in 2015 to a position of opposition now.

I do not claim that every disabled person opposes assisted dying, but I do claim that the vast majority of disabled people and their organisations oppose it. They need the health and social care system fixing first. They want us as parliamentarians to assist them to live, not to die.

Disabled people’s voices matter in this debate, and yet as I have watched the Bill progress, the absence of disabled people’s voices has been astonishing. They have wanted to engage. Indeed, they have been crying out to be included, yet the engagement has been negligible. I believe that only one disabled people’s organisation was given the opportunity to provide evidence to the Committee. Furthermore, throughout Committee and at the initial publication stage of the Bill, accessible formats were not available. A large-print version of the Bill was published several weeks after the original, but no other formats, such as easy read and British Sign Language, have been made available. These are basic things that we should be doing when consulting on such important pieces of legislation, making it accessible so that everyone’s voices and views can be heard.

Many of those expected to deliver this legislation also do not want it. They believe that it could destroy the doctor-patient relationship. The experts have all been clear. The Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, GPs, disability charities, mental health charities and domestic abuse charities have all warned that the safeguards in the Bill are insufficient and will put vulnerable people in harm’s way.

I will finish by saying that I am not opposed to the principle of assisted dying, but until we have a system that supports the right to life, I cannot support it. Until we ensure that all safeguards are in place, I cannot support it. And until the vast majority of disabled people and their organisations support the legislation that is being brought forward, I cannot support it. We are not voting on principles today. This is real and we have to protect those people who are susceptible to coercion, who already feel like society does not value them, who often feel like a burden to the state, society and their family. I urge anyone in this Chamber who has any doubts that this Bill does not protect them, who has any worries and concerns: please do not vote for it today. Let us fix our NHS, social care and wider society first and then consider this topic again in the future, when the time is right.