Assisted dying bills come to British and Irish parliaments

Politicians in the UK and Ireland will this year vote on whether to allow terminally ill people to end their lives.

MPs in the House of Commons were guaranteed a vote when the Labour MP for Wolverhampton South West, Rob Marris, who came top in the ballot for backbench legislation, announced on Tuesday that he would use his slot to introduce a Private Members’ Bill on assisted dying.
It will be the first time in 20 years that the House of Commons has voted on the topic.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, David Cameron said he did not support euthanasia and warned of the pressure that would be put on frail elderly people “to take a decision that actually they might not want to go ahead with”.

The Prime Minister said: “I know there are imperfections and problems with the current law, but I think these can be dealt with sensitively and sensibly without having a new law that actually brings in euthanasia.”

The bill, due to appear before Parliament on 11 September, will be almost identical to that put forward by Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor. That bill ran out of parliamentary time ahead of May’s general election.

In Ireland, the Independent Teacha Dála John Halligan is due to introduce a Private Members’ Bill in the coming weeks that is aimed at removing criminal sanctions against a family member or doctor who assists a suicide.

Right-to-die campaigner Tom Curran, whose late partner Marie Fleming unsuccessfully challenged the law banning assisted suicide in the Irish Supreme Court in 2013, has assisted with the wording of the bill. Pro-life campaigners have warned that legalising euthanasia could put vulnerable people at risk.