“Parliament can deliver safe, fair and compassionate assisted dying law”, as official analysis confirms Leadbeater Bill includes stronger protections than any other jurisdiction and is compatible with ECHR

Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:

“These assessments are clear; Parliament can introduce a safe, fair and compassionate assisted dying law that delivers the reform our country needs. Not only is the Bill fully compatible with the ECHR, it includes more protections and safeguards than any other jurisdiction where the choice is legal.

“Reforming a 60-year-old law that no longer reflects how we live and die today is clearly an investment worth making. Much of the funding will go towards establishing robust safeguards, including a new Assisted Dying Commission to ensure that every decision is properly scrutinised and vulnerable people are protected – far more so than under the law as it stands, where oversight is applied too late or not at all.

“The real cost of the current ban on assisted dying is measured in human suffering. Every year, dying people are forced to endure unbearable pain, travel overseas to die alone, or take desperate measures without support. Families are left dealing with trauma, grief, and legal uncertainty. That’s the true cost of inaction – and far too many people are paying it.

“A safe, regulated assisted dying law will bring fairness, choice, and compassion to everyone who wants and needs it – not just the privileged few who can afford to travel abroad. It will put protections and support in place where currently none exist, giving dying people real choice and healthcare professionals clear guidance.”

Key points in the impact assessments include:

• An analysis of 10 jurisdictions where assisted dying is already available to terminally ill, mentally competent adults project that, 10 years after the law changes, assisted dying will account for just 0.7% of total deaths in England and Wales.

• This same analysis found no evidence of similar laws restricted to terminal illness expanding beyond their initial scope in any jurisdiction worldwide, reinforcing the findings of the 2024 Health Select Committee Inquiry on assisted dying.

• Confirmation of the Government view that the Bill is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
  
• Confirmation that the Bill goes further than other jurisdictions’ laws in terms of oversight, regulation, protections and safeguards.

Extensive work has gone into designing a safe and compassionate assisted dying framework for England and Wales, drawing on decades of international evidence and best practice. At the Bill’s Committee Stage, parliamentarians, clinicians, legal experts and campaigners gave evidence to ensure that the proposed law upholds the highest standards of protection for dying people, their families, and healthcare professionals.

Central to these safeguards is the creation of a new, independent, judge-led Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission to appoint panels of skilled psychiatrists, social workers and senior lawyers to oversee every application. The Commission will ensure rigorous scrutiny, support healthcare professionals, and protect vulnerable people. 

Alongside this, the Bill introduces mandatory specialist training for doctors and nurses – including on coercion – independent advocates for people with learning disabilities, a Disability Advisory Board to scrutinise the Bill’s impact for disabled people, and a legal duty to ensure all dying people are informed of their full range of care options, including palliative care.

Without access to assisted dying, up to 20 people a day die in completely unrelieved pain, despite access to hospice care. Up to 650 terminally ill people take their own lives every year, with ten times as many attempts. 

British membership of Switzerland assisted dying organisation Dignitas has risen more than 50% in the last five years, with 37 people from Britain having an assisted death at Dignitas in 2024. More than half of Brits (52%) would personally consider travelling to Switzerland for an assisted death if they were terminally ill, but less than 3 in 10 (28%) would be able to afford it, the poll also found, with costs skyrocketing to £15,000 in the last five years. 

Elise Burns, 51, from Faversham, Kent, who has terminal secondary breast cancer that has spread to her lungs, liver and bones, said:

“The human cost of maintaining the blanket ban on assisted dying is paid for by terminally ill people like me and our families. I am already living in a lot of pain, and I know that as my condition progresses my pain could become unbearable, despite even the best palliative care. Because of this, I feel forced to seek an assisted death in Switzerland, which will cost me around £15,000. Anyone who accompanies me there could be at risk of prosecution; a great source of anxiety.

“Having this choice here at home would mean so much to me, my loved ones and so many other terminally ill people. It would give me the freedom to enjoy the time I have left, allow me to live for longer, and spare me from making a journey of hundreds of miles. When they come to vote on this Bill, I urge MPs to consider whether they can really afford not to act, when there are so many people like me already paying the price of a cruel, outdated status quo.”

Last November, the House of Commons voted to support the Bill at its landmark Second Reading. In January, the Bill progressed to Committee Stage, where MPs scrutinised each clause line by line and considered amendments to further strengthen its safeguards. The Bill will return to the Commons for further debate at Report Stage on Friday 16th May. 

The Assisted Dying for Terminally ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, proposed by Liam McArthur MSP,  will have its Stage 1 vote on Tuesday 13th May. The Isle of Man’s Assisted Dying Bill has passed all its stages in the House of Keys and Legislative Council and is now being sent for Royal Assent, with the choice potentially available to terminally ill residents from 2027 after an implementation period. Jersey’s assisted dying bill is expected to be debated in the Spring.

The largest ever opinion poll on assisted dying, conducted in early 2024, found three-quarters of Britons support law change, with majority support in every constituency in Great Britain and across all demographics.  

Around 300 million people across Australasia, Europe and North and South America have access to some form of assisted dying. In March, Delaware’s House of Representatives passed an assisted dying bill for terminally ill adults, with the bill now being sent for consideration and debate in the Senate. In April, New York’s State Assembly passed a similar Bill, which will now be sent to its State Senate.

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For more information or interview requests, please email Molly Pike, Senior Media and Campaigns Officer at Dignity in Dying, molly.pike@dignityindying.org.uk or call 07855209809