Terminally ill could end their lives 'if a judge and doctor agree'

Campaigners gathered outside Parliament today as a proposed new law on assisted dying was presented to the House of Commons.

Both those in favour and against allowing terminally ill people to end their lives travelled to Westminster ahead of the introduction of controversial legislation.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is behind the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and this morning insisted it would have 'clear criteria, safeguards and protections'.

She formally introduced her Bill to the Commons on Wednesday, and it will be debated and could face a first vote when it has its second reading on November 29. 

The detail of the proposed legislation is unlikely to be set out until closer to that first Commons debate.

But Ms Leadbeater has suggested two doctors and a judge would have to agree that terminally ill patients can be helped to end their lives under her Bill.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, staged a dramatic intervention ahead of the Bill's formal introduction by warning it would put the most vulnerable at risk.

He said those who feel a 'burden' on their family may feel a 'duty' to end their lives.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Welby said that 'we can never be sure that assisted suicide will be safe from abuse'.

'But even where there is no abuse, the pressure to end one's life early could be intense and inescapable if the law were changed,' he added.

'The legalisation of assisted suicide may introduce structural incentives to our health system - incentives that could have disastrous consequences.

'In these circumstances, the right to end your life could all too easily - and accidentally - turn into a duty to do so.

'We have to recognise that people who are dying, people just like my mum, often feel like a burden on their family, on their friends, on the NHS.'

MPs will have a free vote in Parliament on Ms Leadbeater's Bill, deciding according to their conscience rather than along party lines.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously supported assisted dying and made a personal promise to campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen to make time for a debate and vote on the issue.

Ms Leadbeater said it was 'absolutely fundamental that safeguards and protections are at the heart of the Bill'.

She told The Times:  'My view at the moment is that it will be two doctors [who sign off a patient's declaration that they wish to end their life], plus there will be judicial oversight.

'I want to facilitate a really robust but compassionate and respectful debate on this issue. I want everyone's view to be heard, and for people to be treated with respect, compassion and understanding.'

Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain, Ms Leadbeater pushed back against concerns around introducing any form of legislation for assisted dying.

She said she would not have such concerns so long as 'we get this legislation right', adding: 'That's why the next six weeks and the debates that will come in the following months are really important.

'We've got the benefit in this country of looking at what other countries have done. 

'And I'm very clear, based on what I've seen so far and the research that I've done is, if we get this right from the start, which some places have done, places like Oregon and certain states in Australia, we have very strict criteria, then those jurisdictions do not broaden out the criteria.

'So we have to get it right from the start with very clear criteria, safeguards and protections.

'And I'm not looking at the model that is going on in Canada. I'm looking at those other jurisdictions where this is done well and in some cases it's been done for a long time, very well, and the criteria have never been extended.'

The Canadian model is open to people experiencing intolerable suffering caused by their medical condition, whereas in Oregon it is limited to those who are terminally ill.

The long title of the proposed legislation, which would apply to England and Wales, is a 'Bill to allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life'.

If the Bill clears its first hurdle at the end of November, it will face line-by-line examination in committee and further Commons votes before being sent to the Lords where the process begins again, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.

It is possible that MPs could vote against it on November 29, as they did last time changes to the law were considered in 2015, preventing it going any further.