Today, I spoke in the Commons and, once again, voted in favour of the Bill moving to a third reading. This is the same Bill introduced by Kim Leadbeater MP and reintroduced by Lauren Edwards MP after it was blocked by a small number of peers in the House of Lords.
I’m deeply disappointed by the outcome of the vote, meaning the Bill will not proceed any further through Parliament, and knowing that it cannot be moved again this Parliamentary session.
I am also heartbroken for all the terminally ill people and their loved ones across the country, who wanted this choice to live a good death.
I have had a huge amount of correspondence from constituents on this matter who have represented both sides of the argument, and I have taken this into consideration when arriving at my position.
My support for the Bill has always been conditional, because too often control is taken away from disabled people.
As a member of the Bill Committee, I worked for over 90 hours, and brought numerous amendments to specifically strengthen the voices of and safeguards for disabled people in this Bill. I set out in my speech last week how this was achieved.
Spending nearly two years thinking about death in relation to this Bill, has been life changing. Choice in death, understanding what dignity in dying is about and what living a good death really means, really makes you think about the meaning of living a good life.
E.B White in Charlotte’s Web tells us, “After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die”. For in setting the bar high for dignity in death, we set the bar even higher for dignity in life too.
This isn’t the end, but in the meantime, I’ll continue working with our Government to bring in the urgent reforms to palliative and social care for disabled people we desperately need.
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