The attempt to introduce assisted suicide in England and Wales looks like it may be pushed back by a further two years, meaning it could end up in effect becoming null and void.
The surprise deferral has been proposed by the very Labour MP pushing the landmark assisted suicide Bill through Parliament, Kim Leadbeater. If the delay is implemented, the initial timeline of two years for bringing in the law – which would have seen it come into effect in 2027 – will now stretch to four years, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/25/assisted-dying-law-thrown-into-doubt-as-plans-for-rollout-delayed-by-two-years"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> the <em>Guardian</em>.
This would mean the effort to introduce legalised assisted suicide would likely coincide with a UK general election, a time when ministers might well be reluctant to be seen to be pushing through such a controversial change before voters go to the polls, or to have such a proposal as a potentiality hanging in the air and influencing voters.
The Bill’s supporters had originally intended for it to become law in 2025, having passed its Second Reading at the end of 2024, with its implementation to begin within two years by 2027 and which would have meant an assisted suicide service would be established in the country well before the next election, the <em>Guardian</em> notes.
It adds that Leadbeater’s spokesperson has commented: “Kim has always been clear that it’s more important to get the assisted dying legislation right than to do it quickly.
“But the four-year limit is not a target, it’s a backstop. Kim hopes and believes the service can be delivered more quickly if it becomes law later this year.”
That comment hints there is perhaps some gamesmanship occurring on the part of the pro-assisted-suicide lobby. It may be attempting to garner new momentum to push the Bill through mounting opposition – as a result of the <a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/key-safeguard-scrapped-from-assisted-suicide-bill/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">removal of previously proposed "safeguards" to protect the vulnerable</mark></a> from being coerced into choosing suicide – by raising “fears” that the Bill could fail entirely through a supposed "delay".
Dr Anthony McCarthy, director of the Bios Centre, a research institute set up to explore bioethical issues and critically examine current practices in health care, commented: "Some MPs may feel 'now or never' about the Bill; however, many voted for it only conditionally at Second Reading and may be feeling apprehensive now as safeguard after safeguard has been voted down by the Committee.
"For MPs with mixed feelings, a delay in the Bill which makes it coincide with the next election and thereby fail altogether would come as a relief," says McCarthy, who has <a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/author/anthony-mccarthy/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">written</mark></a> extensively about concerns with the Bill for the <em>Catholic Herald</em>.
"Uneasiness is growing given the widely-reported bias and also chaos of the Committee and the protests of those (disabled people, palliative care workers, geriatricians, mental health professionals) whose expertise is being dismissed."
Tom Gordon, a Liberal Democrat MP who sits on the Commons committee scrutinising the bill, said that “delaying implementation risks pushing it beyond the next election, where it could be abandoned altogether.
"We have thoroughly scrutinised and strengthened this bill, ensuring it is safe and robust. Every extra year means more unnecessary suffering for those who cannot afford to wait,” Gordon said.<br><br>However, Catholic Church leaders in the UK have also scrutinised the Bill and are worryingly confident that it is not safe and robust, and that it also poses an enormous threat to both the vulnerable and the very fabric of British society.
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/interview-bishop-sherrington-on-human-suffering-and-assisted-suicide/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><em><strong>RELATED: INTERVIEW with Bishop Sherrington – patients deserve access to healthcare, not an avenue to commit suicide</strong></em></mark></a>
<em>Photo: Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who proposed the landmark private member's Bill on assisted suicide, reacts as she meets campaigners after a parliamentary vote was passed in support of assisted suicide in London, England, 29 November 2024. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images.)</em>
