David Cameron backs assisted suicide Bill at last minute
David Cameron has gone public with his support for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill just before it goes to a vote in the UK Parliament tomorrow. In a comment article written for The Times of London on the evening of 27 November, the former British Prime Minister, now a member of the The post David Cameron backs assisted suicide Bill at last minute appeared first on Catholic Herald.
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David Cameron has gone public with his support for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill just before it goes to a vote in the UK Parliament tomorrow.
In a comment article written for The Times of London on the evening of 27 November, the former British Prime Minister, now a member of the House of Lords, describes how though he has opposed moves to legalise assisted suicide/dying in the past, he has “always sympathised with the passionate arguments put by those who support such moves in order to reduce suffering”.
Lord Cameron goes on to say that he thinks “there is a strong case to be made for the latest attempt to square this circle”.
He adds: “The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is very tightly drawn, learns the lessons of what has worked elsewhere in the world and has extremely strong safeguards.”
His robust confidence in those safeguards goes against all warnings and advice that have come from the Catholic Church in England and Wales alongside other church leaders, and from innumerable experts in fields such as the health service, the judicial system and palliative/end-of-life care.
He is also the only former prime minister to have publicly expressed support for the Bill that is scheduled to have its Second Reading in the House of Commons on 29 November. Four former prime ministers have either spoken out against, or let it be known that they oppose, the Bill.
Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Baroness Theresa May have all expressed their opposition to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Sources close to Baroness May said her opposition to assisted dying legislation had not changed since she voted against it in 2015, hence the former prime minister is expected to vote against the new Bill.
Ms Truss told the Telegraph she was “completely opposed” to the Bill, saying: “It is wrong in principle: organs of the state like the NHS and the judicial system should be protecting lives, not ending them.”
The Telegraph also claims that it is led to believe that Mr Johnson would not support the proposed legislation as it currently stands.
The three former Tory prime ministers join Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, in opposing the Bill. Writing in the Guardian on 22 November, Brown explained how the death of his 11-day-old baby daughter Jennifer due to a brain haemorrhage shortly after her birth in 2001 convinced him “of the value and imperative of good end-of-life care” over assisted-dying practises.
Sir Tony Blair and Sir John Major have yet to comment on the Bill. Rishi Sunak has previously stated that he is “not against [assisted dying/suicide] in principle”, but he has yet to confirm his position on the Private Member’s Bill proposed by Kim Leadbeater.
As a current member of Parliament, Sunak is the only former prime minister who will be able to vote on the Bill in the House of Commons. Baroness May and Lord Cameron will both have votes if the Bill progresses to the House of Lords.
Cameron says that “if this bill makes it to the House of Lords, I will be voting for it”.
He adds: “It’s right that MPs are having a free vote on this issue – and our tradition of free votes on such moral issues should be maintained.
“The fact it is a free vote gives legislators the chance to think afresh and, if the evidence convinces them, to change their mind. That’s what I have done.”
Lord Cameron’s position on the Bill is striking, not only for its suddenness and because it makes him the only former prime minister to declare support for it. He and his wife, Samantha Cameron, had a disabled son, Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy, and died aged six in 2009.
Lord Cameron has spoken in the past about the profound impact that caring for Ivan had during his life, notes the Telegraph.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, a crossbench peer and multi-gold-medal-winning paralympic athlete and advocate for disability rights, has very recently discussed the potential impact of the Bill on people with disabilities.
She described it as a “dangerous” Bill that has left disabled people “extremely worried” about its implications.
Photo: Then British Foreign Secretary David Cameron arrives at the 2024 Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Germany, 11 June 2024. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.)
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