‘When MPs enter the chamber, watching from the gallery will be terminally ill people and bereaved family members who are counting on us to make our law better, safer and kinder’
Over the past few months, I have been privileged to meet and hear from countless people who have seen and felt real pain and injustice caused by the ban on assisted dying.
I am full of admiration for them, for having the strength to relive the most brutal experiences of their life in the hope that other families won’t have to endure the same.
The law as it stands is not working for dying people or their loved ones; that much is clear.
A majority of MPs recognised this when they backed my Bill in November. When they come to debate it once again on Friday, they can be confident that it returns even stronger.
This Bill goes further than any other around the world in its safeguards, oversight and regulation; something confirmed by the Government’s own impact assessment.
I’m pleased that many colleagues have been reassured by changes made to the Bill in recent months, including ensuring that a psychiatrist, social worker and senior lawyer review each application for an assisted death as well as two doctors, introducing even more robust protections against coercion, and adding increased support and safeguards.
And we’re strengthening the Bill even further at Report stage today, with amendments to ensure that doctors will be protected from discrimination whether they choose to take part in the process or not, and to introduce regular assessments on the state of palliative care, to ensure that all dying people have access to excellent care alongside greater choice, should they want and need it.
When MPs enter the chamber this morning, watching from the gallery will be terminally ill people and bereaved family members who are counting on us to make our law better, safer and kinder – not just for them but for all of us, whatever we might choose.
We are closer than ever to achieving the change the British public have long been calling for.
This week Holyrood voted to progress a similar Bill and the Isle of Man is set to legalise assisted dying this year.
More than 300 million around the world already have access to this choice.
We must grasp this opportunity with both hands.
As the inimitable campaigner Nat Dye, who has terminal bowel cancer, has said: our deaths depend on it.