Assisted dying demonstrators make last-ditch pleas before Bill runs out of time

A terminally ill woman taking part in a “living statues” demonstration in support of assisted dying has claimed she and others will be “forced to suffer” without a change in the law, but a disability activist insisted there are “more humane” ways to help people at the end of life.

Supporters and opponents of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill are gathering outside Parliament two days ahead of the proposed legislation’s expected demise, as it runs out of time to become law.

The Bill, which has been making its way through the Commons then the Lords over the past year and a half, is expected to fall at the end of Friday’s debate, which is its last scheduled sitting for this session of Parliament.

It had proposed allowing adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel.

Cancer sufferer Sophie Blake was expected to join fellow terminally ill people on Wednesday to stand on plinths erected in Parliament Square to form living statues.

The demonstration, co-ordinated by pro-change group Dignity in Dying, is aimed at showing the “suffering compounded by obstruction of the Bill by a minority of opponents in the Lords”, campaigners said.

More than 1,000 suggested changes to the Bill – believed to be a record for backbench legislation – were tabled in the Lords when it reached committee stage and it has now run out of time.

Criticism from Bill supporters that peers opposed to change were trying to “talk out” the draft law has been repeatedly rejected by those in the Lords who insist they were doing their job of scrutinising legislation which they argue is not safe.

But Ms Blake, who has secondary breast cancer, said: “I’ve been outraged at the delaying tactics of a small number of peers in recent months.

“There is a human cost to delaying the progress of this Bill, and I fear that due to the actions of a few powerful people, dying people like me will be forced to suffer.

“Like so many living with cancer, I know I am just one bad scan away from facing the end of my life. I’m so proud today to be standing alongside other campaigners living with terminal illnesses who are full of courage, humanity, kindness and compassion.

“I only hope parliamentarians can find that compassion for us and bring back the Bill in the next parliament.”

Fellow campaigner and cancer patient Christie Arnsten said the Bill had given her “so much hope”.

She added: “Parliamentarians should hold the people they’re legislating for in mind as they debate Bills like this. I, like so many people, don’t have the time to wait for a delay in legalising assisted dying.”

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the backbench Bill to the Commons and won two votes there, has vowed to try to bring the legislation back in the next session.

But opponents have warned against what they described as an “absurd” attempt to bring the Bill back later this year, branding it “bad law”.

George Fielding, a spokesman for a coalition of disabled people, grassroots organisations and campaign groups, said they were intent on “reclaiming the truth”.

He said: “The House of Lords has not obstructed democracy — they have fulfilled their democratic duty by scrutinising legislation that carries profound consequences for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

“Disabled people are coming together to say clearly: laws on assisted suicide and euthanasia cannot be viewed in isolation from the realities of inequality, underfunded care and systemic disadvantage.

“We are here to thank the Lords for taking the time to listen, to question and to strengthen this debate — and to remind the public that there are more humane, compassionate and life-affirming ways to support people at the end of life.”