Keir Starmer plans ‘assisted dying’ Bill before Christmas

The British Prime Minister is seeking to fast-track an “assisted dying” law through Parliament before Christmas, according to reports.

Sir Keir Starmer wants to allocate time for the consideration of a Bill to allow “assisted dying” soon after the autumn political party conferences are over.

He decided to accelerate moves to decriminalise “assisted dying” – a euphemism for assisted suicide or euthanasia – after Labour MPs dominated the results of the annual Private Member’s Bill ballot, the Mail on Sunday has claimed.

The ballot is an annual process in the House of Commons during which backbench MPs can register their names to introduce a new law, with the ballot also determining the order in which MPs can present their bills for debate and potential passage.

“The wheels are turning,” one Labour source told the newspaper. “It has been made clear to the MPs at the top of the ballot that the PM backs a change in the law.”

If the Bill passes, it could usher in one of the greatest social changes in the UK since the 1967 Abortion Act, notes the Mail on Sunday

Earlier this year, Sir Keir, a former Director of Public Prosecutions and an atheist, committed himself to bringing forward a Bill in a telephone call filmed by ITV.

He assured Dame Esther Rantzen that “I’m personally in favour of changing the law” after the television presenter and foundress of Childline, the anti-bullying and anti-abuse charity, announced that she had joined Dignitas, the assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, and might wish to end her life there if treatment for her stage four lung cancer fails.

“I think we need to make time,” Sir Keir said. “We will make the commitment. Esther, I can give you that commitment right now…we will make time for this vote.”

His assurances later prompted Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury to call on Catholics to use their votes in the UK General Election to stop assisted suicide and euthanasia becoming law.

Bishop Davies said: “Opening the doors to euthanasia would change the medical and nursing professions in their relationship to the sick and the aged; distort the way the sick and the elderly are viewed in society when it is less costly to kill rather than to care; put intolerable pressures on the sick and the aged who are made to feel a burden; and advance a culture of death which has extended to more and more people in countries where euthanasia has been adopted, even extending to the mentally ill and to children.”

RELATED: Zoraya ter Beek deserved doctors who cherished her life as precious

Earlier this month, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales offered resources to Catholics to help them to combat the threat of assisted suicide and euthanasia. 

At present, the 1961 Suicide Act makes assisting a suicide punishable by up to 14 years in jail, though prosecutions and jail sentences are extremely rare.

Activists have repeatedly sought to change the law through both the courts and Parliament. The last time MPs were able to vote on an assisted suicide Bill was in 2015 when it was rejected by 330 votes to 118.

However, with the spread of euthanasia and assisted suicide throughout various countries in the Western world during the last decade, accompanied by increasing support from much of the mainstream media, more MPs are expected to vote in favour of a change in the law. Similar Bills to scrap legal prohibitions on doctor-assisted death will soon also be considered in Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

MPs in Westminster are likely to be granted a free vote according to their consciences and some will oppose any Bill on the issue.

They include Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, a Muslim, who has already made her opposition clear.

She said: “I don’t intend to support it…I know some MPs who support this issue think, ‘For God’s sake we’re not a nation of granny killers, what’s wrong with you …?’ [But] once you cross that line, you’ve crossed it forever.

“If it becomes the norm that at a certain age or with certain diseases, you are now a bit of burden…that’s a really dangerous position.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has also declared himself “conflicted” and “deeply uncomfortable” about legalising assisted suicide or euthanasia.

He said: “Candidly, when I think about this question of being a burden, I do not think that palliative care, end-of-life care in this country is in a [suitable] condition yet where we are giving people the freedom to choose, without being coerced by the lack of support available.”

RELATED: Election campaign launched to address shortfall in palliative care and stop assisted suicide

Photo: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Villa Doria Pamphilj following their meeting during the UK PM’s current overseas trip, Rome, Italy, 16 September 2024. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images.)

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