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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - MARCH 24, 2025: Actress Liz Carr (L) and disabled people who oppose assisted dying demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament as Kim Leadbeater's Assisted Dying Bill enters the final week of its committee stage in London, United Kingdom on March 24, 2025.
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Leaked documents suggest UK Labour Party is source of assisted suicide bill

Icon of a globeInternational·By Cassy Cooke

Leaked documents suggest UK Labour Party is source of assisted suicide bill

Leaked documents revealed that the United Kingdom's Labour Party tried to forward an assisted suicide bill as a Private Member Bill (PMB) rather than as government policy, with the goal of attracting more elderly voters.

Key Takeaways:

  • This year, the United Kingdom (UK) parliament has been considering the “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)” bill, despite concerns that the bill's wording could lead to coercion and abuse.

  • Disability-rights and pro-life groups have maintained staunch opposition to the legislation.

  • The legislation was introduced by MP Kim Leadbeater as a PMB, rather than by a member of the executive government.

  • Leaked documents revealed this was an intentional ploy by the Labour Party, with the party promising the executive government "heavy influence" in return.

The Details:

In an explosive report, the Guardian revealed leaked documents that show the Labour Party suggested legalizing assisted suicide through a PMB, with the goal of retaining influence over the legislation and scoring points with voters. There were allegedly 11 references to the pro-assisted suicide group Dignity in Dying in those documents, which said there would be “strong, impactful campaigns in favour of assisted dying during the general election campaign” as a means of persuading an MP — presumably Leadbeater — to introduce the bill.

The document further said assisted suicide “polls well, particularly amongst hero voters in areas we must win back, for whom this is particularly prescient (eg older demographics with ageing parents who are more likely to experience serious and terminal illness)."

And while the Labour Party claims to be neutral on the issue, the document said that neutrality would not serve them well during election season. “We could choose to do nothing, but this is an option that fails to recognise public opinion and which campaigners argue leads hundreds of people to take matters into their own hands and puts relatives who help their loved ones at risk of prosecution," the document said.

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A spokesperson for Leadbeater denied that she had any conversations with the Labour Party or the prime minister's office before introducing the bill.

At least one member of the Labour Party, however, wasn't buying that story.

“At a time when the Lords are being told democracy requires them to nod this bill through, it is now clear that the process in the Commons bypassed the usual processes for developing laws of this magnitude and that everyone has been misled about the nature and origin of the bill," the source told the Guardian. "It’s bitterly disappointing that No 10 have sought to use the machinery of government and other parties as cover on an issue that needs more scrutiny, not less.”

However, Dame Meg Hiller, a Labour Party MP, openly disavowed her party's duplicity.

"It’s hugely disappointing to see what appears to be an attempt to circumvent the Labour Party’s manifesto and policy processes to support a controversial Bill that many Labour MPs and activist just don’t support," she said. "This is not how our party should make policy on such a profound issue of life and death, with such far-reaching implications for the NHS and our wider society.”

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Why It Matters:

Multiple notable figures have spoken against the bill, including Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, a former Paralympian, and actress Sophie Turner, best known for her roles in the "X-Men" and "Game of Thrones" series.

Grey-Thompson, a long-time disability advocate, pointed out that the National Health Service (NHS) is looking to cut between £5bn and £6bn from disability benefits, and if assisted suicide is legalized, the two together would essentially encourage disabled Britons to die.

"When you understand that we live in a relatively able society, there will be people who sit on the panel who will decide that a disabled person has nothing to offer society and will allow them to end their lives," she said earlier this year, referencing applications for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) approval. Though Grey-Thompson said she generally accepts the idea of assisted suicide, she also understands the risk it holds for those with disabilities.

Turner also spoke from her own experience; she survived an eating disorder, and — with the Eat Breathe Thrive Foundation for Eating Disorders — expressed her opposition to the bill. The letter Turner signed said the legislation poses a serious risk to those with eating disorders, saying it "could make individuals with eating disorders eligible for assisted death at times when they are unable to access or accept treatment. Many young people who could recover with effective care might instead receive lethal medication during a period of despair.”

As if to prove these concerns are valid, a British neurosurgeon openly said during a parliamentary hearing that it's acceptable that "a few grannies [have been] bullied" if it means assisted suicide will be legal:

The contributions from the anti-euthanasia people the last time it was debated in parliament were abysmal.

One bloody woman MP claimed the drugs were very unpleasant. That's a complete lie. So much of it is all bloody Christians.

They argue that grannies will be made to commit suicide. Even if a few grannies get bullied into it, isn't that a price worth paying for all the people who could die with dignity?

Though he seemed bothered that his comments were made public, he continued to stand by them, even seeming to find the situation humorous.

The Bottom Line:

The Labour Party's underhanded efforts to push their assisted suicide legislation through are just another sign of how dangerous this bill is and how it is likely being promoted not because proponents truly seek "death with dignity" but as a cost-savings measure at the expense of human beings' lives.

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