Latest politics: Landmark backs dying debate, outcome of vote uncertain | Politics News

The first speaker in the debate on the assisted dying bill was Labor MP Kim Leadbeater, who tabled the bill.

He begins by telling MPs that the bill would give terminally ill patients “choice, autonomy and dignity at the end of life under very strict criteria.”

“Let me tell my colleagues in the parliament, especially my new colleagues, I know this has not been easy. It has certainly not been easy for me.

“But if any of us want an easy life, I’m afraid we’re in the wrong place.”

Ms Leadbeater argues this debate is “long overdue” and says she has done all she can to ensure the tone of the debate is “robust” as well as “respectful and compassionate” and urges MPs to maintain this.

Getting back to the heart of the debate, he says that where “the law is failing people” MPs “have a duty to fix it”.

He tells the story of Warwick, whose wife Anne died of asphyxiation due to cancer: “He spent four days lying awake, breathless and suffocating, despite being given the maximum dose of sedatives.”

“She begged Warwick to end her life, but when Warwick stood next to her with a pillow in his hand, she couldn’t do what she wanted because she didn’t want that to be her last memory of him.

“The mother had excellent palliative care, but it could not relieve her suffering.”

Ms. Leadbeater tells many stories of “the heartbreaking reality and human suffering that so many people experience as a result of the status quo.”

“We should all have the right to make the choices and decisions we want about them,” he says, arguing that public opinion “is in favor of changing the law” and that they want terminally ill, mentally competent adults to end their own lives. our own bodies”.

“We’re not talking about giving people a choice between life or death; we’re talking about giving people a choice about how they die,” he says.

Ms Leadbeater said the fear that people would be forced to end their own lives was often only detected after death, with medical professionals likely to detect this, and this bill would make this illegal.

He calls on the government to improve palliative care in Britain, but also says it is not palliative care or assisted dying.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden expresses fear that judges will interpret the law more broadly than MPs intended, saying courts have repeatedly required parliament to legislate on the issue and refused to rule on it.

Ms. Leadbeater goes on to argue that the bill has “the most robust and powerful safeguards in the world” that do not currently exist.

He insists security measures are sufficient now and could be strengthened by lawmakers as the bill continues to move through Parliament.

To this end, he calls on MPs to vote in favor of the bill today.