At 6pm on Thursday 3 October, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater (Spen Valley, pictured above) announced that she will use her first-place draw in the House of Commons Private Member's Bill ballot to bring forward an assisted suicide bill.

Prior to Labour's landslide election victory, Sir Keir Starmer promised to make Government time available to any Private Member's Bill on the issue. Jake Richards MP (drawn 11th in the most recent ballot) had said immediately that he would bring forward a bill, but the first seven are typically most likely to make progress and The Mail on Sunday reported little more than a fortnight ago that those higher up the list were being urged to take up the issue.

Now, Ms Leadbeater has announced her bill, and a Commons debate will soon follow.

Care Not Killing Chief Executive Gordon Macdonald led reaction to the news, his comments being carried by major publications including The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Mirror, the BBC, Sky, The Morning Star, The Independent, The Manchester Evening News, The BMJ and Pulse (a news source for GPs.)

"MPs considering a change in the law would do well to look at the detailed polling carried out earlier this year, under British Polling Council guidelines which concluded that a clear majority (56 per cent) of the public who expressed a view supporting assisted dying/assisted suicide in principle do not believe that a law allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia can be implemented safely."

The polling, carried out earlier this year by Whitestone Insight also found:

• A majority feel that if assisted dying is legalised in the UK, patients should have the legal right to choose to be treated by doctors and other health professionals who have opted out of participating in it.
• Legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide is not a political priority for most people. Legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide ranked 23 out of 24 of issues that need attention, with "regulating AI" and "international trade deals" ranking higher. Only four per cent thought it should be a priority for politicians.
• 60 per cent of those surveyed worried that legalising AD/AS would fundamentally change the relationship between doctor and patient, including more than half (51 per cent) of those who support AD/AD.
• Seven in 10 (70 per cent) said that assistance in dying in countries like Canada and the Netherlands, where young people with no terminal illness are helped to die, has gone too far. This rose to more than eight in 10 (84 per cent) when those who answered 'don't know' were discounted.
• Young people reject assisted dying/assisted suicide more than do any other age group. Fewer than half (44 per cent) of 18-24-year-olds supported legalising assisted dying/assisted suicide.
• A clear majority - 56 per cent - voiced fears that legalising assisted suicide would lead to a culture where suicide becomes more normalised than it is today. This rose to 67 per cent when those who answered "don't know" were omitted.
• Similarly, 43 per cent fear that introducing assisted suicide when the NHS and Social Care budget is under such pressure would inevitably place an incentive on health professionals to encourage some people to end their lives early.

Dr Macdonald concluded:

"We have all seen how quickly the safeguards in countries like Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have been eroded so disabled people and those with mental health problems, even eating disorders are now being euthanised. Therefore, I would strongly urge the Government to focus on fixing our broken palliative care system that sees up to one in four Brits who would benefit from this type of care being unable to access it, rather than discussing again this dangerous and ideological policy."

Image copyright Barry Goble (Creative Commons Licence)