A few months back it looked like the Bill to impose satate-anctioned murder in England and Wales would pass all too easily, but there are signs of a dramatic shift in opinion on the subject.
A new poll published in The Times suggests the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill may no longer have the backing of enough MPs to pass Third Reading.
With the Third Reading of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which intends to make assisted suicide legal in England and Wales, expected to take place in June, the pollster Whitestone Insight asked 103 MPs how they intend to vote. 42% of the MPs said they would vote against the Bill, compared with just 36% who said they would vote in favour.
A further 13% were undecided, 5% planned to abstain, and 8% preferred not to say.
Asked if they agreed that “replacing a High Court judge’s oversight of the assisted dying bill with a panel gives me more confidence in it”, 41% disagreed and only 30% agreed.
This polling suggests there has been a dramatic change in support for the Bill, which passed Second Reading by 330 to 275 votes last November.
The poll was commissioned by Care Not Killing. Chief executive of Care Not Killing, Gordon Macdonald, said “The more MPs hear about assisted suicide and what it entails, the less likely they are to support changing the law”.
“Clearly MPs recognise that removing the requirement for every application to be overseen by the High Court – part of a formal judicial process with the duty to consider all views and the power to summon witnesses – makes the bill much less safe, while the rejection of amendments aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people in our society is making many people think again”.
“This bill was sold to parliament and to members of the public as being the safest in the world, yet the truth is this bill, if it became law, would put the lives of vulnerable people at risk, exactly as we see in every jurisdiction that has legalised assisted suicide or euthanasia”.
The poll indicating the assisted suicide Bill is losing support among MPs comes after reports that the “cheerful optimism” on display earlier in the campaign had turned into a “charged nervousness”.
Political correspondent for Sky News, Ali Fortescue, suggested that MPs who voted for the Bill at Second Reading may be prepared to vote against at Third Reading, and join Reform’s Lee Anderson and former colleague Rupert Lowe, who publicly announced in February they would be changing their vote.
With MPs of both main parties extra worried about their seats following the Reform earthquake in Thursday's elections, now is a REALLY good time to write to YOUR MP and urge them to vote against this terrible Bill. This could go right to the wire, so every extra scrap of effort could make a vital difference.