Open letter: Danny Kruger MP does not speak for us

Tonight Channel 4 will air a landmark documentary on assisted dying presented by our MP Danny Kruger and his mother, broadcaster and chef Dame Prue Leith.

As his constituents, we want to put on record that he does not speak for us on this vital issue. While Mr Kruger is staunchly opposed to a change in the law, we, like Dame Prue and the vast majority of the British public, believe it must – and will – change.

Many of us have seen the harms done by our current laws first-hand, having witnessed loved ones suffer against their wishes despite good care – as Dame Prue’s brother did. Others have been shocked and appalled by stories of British citizens forced to travel to a foreign country to die on their own terms, or of terminally ill people who feel no option but to take their own lives at home.

Those who oppose assisted dying, like Mr Kruger, turn a blind eye to the pain, suffering and lasting trauma that our law is causing. We will not.

The Health and Social Care Select Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into assisted dying, the Parliaments of Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man are considering law change, and the Republic of Ireland is examining the issue, as is France. Politicians are increasingly accepting that doing nothing is not an option.

Things must change for dying people in this constituency and beyond. Instead of scaremongering about other country’s laws, Mr Kruger must wake up to the devastation going on on his own doorstep.

The full list of open letter signatories are as follows:

Edward Adlam
Jane Allin
Rosalind Ambler
Pamela Annis
Deborah Askew
Marie Ayres
Sarah Bamber
Peter Barnett
David Bell
Cathie Bell
Martine Booth
Chantal Bourgonje
Lesley Bradshaw
Monica Braithwaite
Wendy Bridger
Clare Bromell
Rachel Bromell
Lorraine Cambers
Andrea Catchpole
Katherine Cipolla
Kevin Clifford
Philip Coles
Mark Connolly
Sue Cook
William Coulthard
Ian Crammond
Wendy Crammond
Keith Darcy
Liz Dark
Mary Davies
Alison Dewar
Julia Dickmann
Susan Dickson
Anna Duckworth
Rod Evans
Rod Evans
Judy Faulkner
Linda Fletcher
Helen Gilmour
Lynn Gray
Margaret Green
Dominika Gregor
Mary Guinness
Elizabeth Guy
Holly Hammond
John Harrod
Nicholas Hatch
Philip Hatfield
Thelma Hey
Elizabeth Hopkinson
Victoria Houldsworth
Frances Hughes
Sharon Jackson
Hilary Jeanes
Suzanne Keith
James Kellar
Julia Killck
Lorna Kilminster
Jan Kirtley
Tanya Lawson
Gail Leaman
Christine le Fleming
Mark le Fleming
Victoria Le Sueur
Jane Lightfoot
Mark Mangham
Jackie Matthews
Hillary Maya
Brian McClintock
Robert Melrose
Roddy Millar
John Miller
Brian Mills
Dawn Moore
Lesley Mullin
Fiona Nesbitt
Rachel Offley
Tom Paine
Wesley Parfitt
Paula Paynton
James Pearce
Mandy Pickering
Stephen Pierce-Smith
Jodie Pitcher
Craig Poxon
Jill Purdum
Alexandra Rawlinson
Gill Rawlinson
Anthea Rogers
Barney Rosedale
Nicholas Savill
Myrofora Savva
Diana Scott
Margaret  Anna Shantry
Kelvyn Shantry
Georgina Siddall
Lynne Stenner
Wendy Stephens
Hollie Taylor
Ruth Twaites
Stephanie Valentine
Gillian Whitty
Ian Wilson
Susan Winfield
John Winfield