The Assisted Dying Bill is being voted on in the House of Commons today and was first proposed by Labour MP for Spen Valley, Kim Leadbeater.
She has addressed the Commons saying that the current option for terminally ill people wanting to end their lives is to travel to another country.
She said: “It is often deeply distressing and very lonely experience, shrouded in secrecy, with people feeling like criminals.”
Ms Leadbeater explained that approximately 600 terminally ill people take their own lives each year. She spoke of the experience that former MP Paul Blomfield had when his dad, Harry, was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.
Paul Blomfield, the former MP for Sheffield Central, has tirelessly campaigned in favour of the Assisted Dying Bill after his dad took his own life, alone, in his garage in 2014.
As she spoke of Paul’s experience, Ms Leadbeater said: “Harry wasn’t suicidal, he loved life, but he has watched too many of his friends have lingering, degrading deaths and did not want that for himself. He couldn’t tell Paul and his family of his plan as they would have been complicit and face prosecution.”
“And how many precious days and weeks did Harry miss out on as a result of having to take action while he was still able to physically do so?”
Mr Blomfield was the MP for Sheffield Central from 2010 until 2024, when Abtisam Mohamed took over as the Labour MP earlier this year.
Ms Mohamed has released a statement on social media stating that she will vote against the bill later on today and hopes that her constituents respect her decision.
She said: “I recognise any initial change in the law would apply only to terminally ill people, I worry that our families and society will forever be changed by it.”
Olivia Blake, MP for Hallam, is still undecided.
Live updates to follow.
