This was not an easy decision, and I want to thank everyone who has written to me about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, also known as the Assisted Dying Bill.
I’ve received so many heartfelt emails and letters with personal stories, differing views, and compelling arguments. I’ve also spoken to many constituents in person over many months, some with clear views about how I should vote, but a great many, like myself, who have been struggling to reach their own informed decisions and opinions on the subject.
I’ve read and considered many of your experiences, and they’ve helped shape my view and ultimately my decision. So, thank you for trusting me, and helping me with this.
This is one vote I truly considered abstaining on because I felt so very conflicted. However, I was elected to make difficult but informed decisions, and I ultimately knew I could not shy away from that responsibility.
I am also increasingly aware of my responsibility to shoulder the disappointment of those who, for understandable reasons, will be unhappy with my decisions as your MP.
My door remains open to you should you need it.
Ultimately, I decided to support the Bill. For terminally ill adults facing unbearable suffering, it will provide a compassionate choice to end life with dignity. Anyone who has nursed loved ones suffering agonising and brutally prolonged deaths knows that the status quo is intolerable and cruel. Sadly, even with the best palliative care, sometimes dignity at the end of life is impossible without the measures in this Bill.
It also weighed heavily on me that a vote against this Bill would retain the status quo, a world without the dignity and choice that an assisted death, regulated and safeguarded by the state, may provide.
This is not the end of this debate. The Bill will progress to the Lords and ultimately to the King for Royal Assent, and even after this, the implementation will, quite rightly, have the eyes of the world on it. I will absolutely rely on you all to hold me to account and lobby for the strongest, most robust safeguards around its implementation.
This decision is ultimately about supporting a more compassionate, dignified end to life, and I hope and pray we will deliver this.
Thank you for all your advice, experience, kindness and support as I’ve been making this decision.
