New disability rights group urges MPs to vote down assisted dying Bill on return

Áine Fox, Press Association Social Affairs Correspondent

Actor Liz Carr and comedian Rosie Jones are among those calling on MPs to vote down the assisted dying Bill when it returns to Parliament next month.

A new disability rights group called Assist Us To Live has been formed to campaign against the proposed legislation and call for reform of social care alongside better funding for palliative care to help people at the end of their lives.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which ran out of time in Parliament’s last session, is due back in the House of Commons on September 11.

The Bill proposes 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.

First brought by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater in 2024 as a Private Member’s Bill, it fell in the House of Lords in April, having run out of time to become law before Parliament was prorogued that month.

It had passed two votes in the House of Commons, although the second one, which took place in 2025, saw the majority in favour of the Bill narrow to 23 from a previous majority of 55.

For the Bill to be voted down in the Commons, at least 12 MPs who voted “yes” last time around would have to switch their vote to “no”, with all other MPs voting the same way they did previously, including abstentions.

Assist Us To Live has written an open letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his fellow MPs urging them to vote against the Bill.

Mr Burnham, who was not an MP and therefore did not have a vote when the Bill came before the Commons in recent years, stated last month that he believes the funding of palliative care needs to be fixed before consideration can be given to legalising assisted dying.

The Prime Minister, who has previously indicated he had changed his view over the years to be in support of the principle of assisted dying, said it is “very challenging” to debate the issue amid gaps in the current offer of care at the end of life.

In their letter, Assist Us To Live said they were “writing to call for a halt to the legislative process around assisted dying until disabled and terminally ill people have as much support to live as this Bill would provide for us to die”.

The letter, which has other signatories including Baroness Campbell – who lives with spinal muscular atrophy – and a number of university academics, argues that “the only safe way to reduce suffering at the end of life is to reform the social and palliative care systems before any move is made towards a programme of assisted suicide”.

Among its calls are for the Government to “fully fund palliative care” to ensure fair access to good care so that “no-one feels pressured to end their lives simply because they are not receiving the medical help they deserve”.

Labour MP Lauren Edwards, who reintroduced the Bill to Parliament, has argued it is not an either-or question, insisting that “improving social and palliative care and offering choice in the last weeks of a dying person’s life can and must go hand in hand”.

She said there was time to improve end-of-life care before any assisted dying service would come into effect under her proposed law, given a four-year implementation period had been agreed in the previous debates.

Following Mr Burnham’s comments last month, Ms Edwards said she believes there is “still widespread support amongst MPs (for the Bill) and a real desire to deal with this issue while fixing social care and palliative care at the same time”.

Some members of the House of Lords faced accusations of filibustering – or delaying – the Bill last time around after more than 1,200 amendments were put forward, with more than 800 of those tabled or sponsored by seven peers.

Opponents at the time branded the Bill “hopelessly flawed”, while supporters accused them of a “denial of democracy”.

Assist Us To Live said: “We understand the flaws in the current system. No-one wants any terminally ill person to suffer unnecessarily at death. But we must protect the lives and rights of disabled and terminally ill people in life.

“We urge you to hear our voices, understand our fears and work with us to create a system that is safe for all: one that assists us to live.”

Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK which is in favour of a change in the law, said MPs had in the votes in 2024 and last year “already given assisted dying careful and serious consideration, and voted clearly to give terminally ill people greater choice and compassion at the end of their lives”.

He added: “While this group may be new, many of the arguments and campaigners behind it will be very familiar to MPs.

“With the public also strongly supporting reform, we hope MPs will look past renewed attempts to derail this long-overdue change, focus on the evidence, and give terminally ill adults the autonomy they deserve.”

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