Kent MP set to reintroduce the assisted dying bill today
The bill was initially passed in the Commons, but blocked by the Lords.
The MP for Rochester and Strood has said she will reintroduce the assisted dying bill into the House of Commons.
In a statement on her website she said: 'I will be reintroducing the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. This long overdue change to the law was supported by MPs during the last session of Parliament and was prevented from passing only by the decision of a minority in the House of Lords to talk it out and stop it coming to a vote.
'I believe it is a fundamental democratic principle that the elected chamber, the House of Commons, should decide what does and does not become law in this country. We owe it to all those terminally ill people and their families who are depending on this Bill to ensure that Parliament can come to a final decision on the question of choice at the end of life. And I believe it undermines public trust in our democracy more widely if we cannot deliver on a measure that is supported by a very large majority of voters in all parts of the country.
'My fellow MPs in all parties took a huge amount of care and attention before deciding how to vote on the legislation. They considered the evidence presented during the lengthy committee sessions, consulted their constituents and listened to those with personal experience of the injustice and cruelty in the law as it now stands.
'We did not take our decision lightly and, as the elected chamber, we had a right to expect that decision to be respected by the Lords, whose job it is to revise legislation not to block it.
'It was rightly described as the safest and most robust assisted dying law anywhere in the world. And it still is.
'The official independent Impact Assessment examined it to ensure it was workable, effective and enforceable. Ministers made clear that if it was passed, the government would implement it.
'If MPs pass it again, as I believe they will, it will go back to the Lords who will then be asked to finish the job they should have completed earlier this year. They will be free to amend the Bill if they wish and return it to the Commons to decide whether and in what form the Bill should become law. That is how democracy works.
'For the avoidance of any doubt, it is not my intention that the Parliament Acts should apply to this Bill and I know that supporters in both Houses of Parliament agree with me on this. There will be no need for that if peers complete their unfinished business in the normal way, but we cannot allow an unelected minority to frustrate the democratic process for a second time.
'In this respect, the question for MPs when the Bill comes to a vote again will be a different one. Should the decision of the elected chamber be respected and not thwarted in the unelected House of Lords? In another respect, the question is unchanged. Should mentally competent terminally ill adults at the very end of their lives be offered the choice of a dignified, pain-free death with all the protections and safeguards the Bill provides?
'An overwhelming majority of our constituents believe that they should. The House of Commons decided that they should. I believe as strongly as ever that we cannot and must not let them down a second time. Now is the opportunity for Parliament to fulfil the trust the public have put in us to correct a glaring injustice and pass this compassionate, safe and long overdue reform.'
Supportive Response
Suzie Jee, a Kent resident and activist from Dying with Dignity told us:
"My father took his own life quite a few years ago, I'm a trained nurse and I very much feel that if we're terminally ill and in our right minds that we should have the right to end our lives to stop suffering.
"It's very much an individual decision to make, and I feel that very strongly. So when the Lords turned it down last time I felt angry and frustrated that we'd worked so hard in this campaign and a few, just a handful of peers blocked the bill going through."
She added on the Bill itself:
"I just feel that really, I don't think it can be improved or made safer.
"I think it's a very, very safe bill. In fact, you know, you'd have to really jump a huge number of hurdles to be able to overcome the legislation that would be involved.
"So hopefully the process will be quicker this time because the bill has been scrupulously examined already by the Commons."
She continued:
"This time round, the Lords won't be able to block the bill.
"They'll have to scrutinise it, but they will not be able to block it because it's what the House of Commons wants.
"And also people want it for themselves and for their close family to give us the choice at the end of our lives.
"And nobody's going to force us to take advantage of this law so that if people don't want it, then they don't have to have it."
Criticism
Mike Smith, a disable activist from Not Dead Yet disagreed, telling us: "We're very, very concerned.
"We've had hundreds of disabled people contacting us saying that they're really worried because at this point in time, social care is in crisis, end of life care and palliative care is a postcode lottery and many disabled people are just not given the support they need to live well."
He added:
"I genuinely hope that many MPs will have realised just how difficult this is and realise that you can't introduce this history to suicide without understanding the wider context, that how many older, vulnerable, disabled and other people won't actually have a meaningful choice like many affluent or middle class people will have, and that their duty is to protect those people."
Before stating:
"No one wants to have a painful or difficult end of life. And I think it's really important that we're not against good support for end of life.
"But what we are concerned about is that there will be many people who feel pressured by society's pressure by not wanting to be a burden on their relatives, and that there are not adequate protections in this current legislation to prevent those situations happening"