Three Britons a month forced to travel abroad to die as 1% of Peers block assisted dying reform
The data shows that 2,385 people in Britain are now members of Dignitas, up from 1,409 in 2020, while a total of 651 UK citizens have now died at the assisted dying organisation since 2002. Last year’s total equates to at least three Britons a month forced to travel abroad for an assisted death.
The figures are published on the second anniversary of the death of Paola Marra, the British woman who travelled to Dignitas in 2023 and recorded the now widely viewed video message beginning: “By the time you see this, I’ll be dead.” Today, campaigners – including Paola’s brother, and friends of hers, themselves living with advanced cancer – are protesting outside the House of Lords as a small group of peers continue to filibuster the Assisted Dying Bill.
Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:
“These figures should stop us in our tracks. Forty-three Britons forced to travel abroad to die in a single year – the second highest number on record – is not a sign of a system working, it is evidence of a system failing.
Behind every one of these deaths is a person like Paola Marra – someone facing unbearable suffering as they died, who felt they had no choice but to leave their home, their country, and often their loved ones, in order to have control over how they die.
Two years on from Paola’s death, her words still resonate because, despite MPs and the public backing law change, choice is being deliberately blocked. People are still being forced overseas at huge financial and emotional cost, or taking matters into their own hands behind closed doors at home. They are still being let down by a law that Parliament accepts is broken.
What has changed is that the Commons has spoken. MPs backed reform, recognising the urgent need for a compassionate, safeguarded assisted dying law in the UK. Yet now, a tiny minority in the House of Lords are attempting to frustrate and delay that democratic decision.
Every month that this Bill is held up, more dying people are forced to consider Dignitas. More families are forced to endure the trauma of travelling abroad and the risk of a police investigation. And more people are denied the choice that the public overwhelmingly agrees they should have.
Parliament must now be allowed to reach a final decision on this Bill. The Government must ensure that happens – if not in this session, then in the next. It is time to end the delays, respect the will of the Commons, and let Parliament as a whole decide.”
Just 1% of peers have taken around a third of speaking time at Committee Stage in the Lords and put their name to around 70% of the amendments. After 12 days, including this sitting, only half of the amendments have been debated, with just three days left. This is not scrutiny, it’s obstruction – as a growing numbers of MPs, Peers and experts have recognised.
This comes as peers across the House have acknowledged the need to move to a decision. Known Bill opponent Lord Carlile noted in the chamber today that Parliament should “get on with deciding whether this Bill is passed, or not,” emphasising that proper parliamentary procedure must now take its course. Lord Pannick also today warned that extended delay risks preventing the House from reaching the stage where it can fully debate and vote on the substance of the Bill.
150 MPs, including 100 Labour, have written to the PM with their grave concern about the constitutional crisis that will result if the Government fails to act. It can and should remain neutral on the principle, but not on democratic process. The government must ensure that Parliament can be allowed to have a final say on the Bill, if not this session then certainly in the next. More than 100k members of the public have signed an official government petition with the same ask.
*ENDS*
For further information please contact Tom Steen, Media and Campaigns Officer at tom.steen@dignityindying.org.ukor 07356135578