MPs are to debate proposals to give terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to choose to end their life.
Keir Starmer has vowed to give Labour MPs a chance to vote with their conscience on the issue as the government is remaining neutral. The prime minister is understood to support a change in the law himself, but some senior cabinet ministers have stated their intention to vote against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — which will be debated at second reading on 29 November.
Below, Politics.co.uk has analysed how Labour cabinet ministers have voted on previous assisted dying legislation and compiled their public statements on the contentious issue.
- Voted in favour of 2015 bill: Keir Starmer, Pat McFadden, Wes Streeting, Ed Miliband, Liz Kendall, Peter Kyle, Louise Haigh, Hilary Benn, Ian Murray, Jo Stevens, Lucy Powell (11)
- Voted against 2015 bill: Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Shabana Mahmood, Bridget Phillipson, Jonathan Reynolds, Alan Campbell (6)
- Absent for vote on 2015 bill: Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper, John Healey, Steve Reed, Lisa Nandy (5)
- Voted in favour of 1997 bill: Yvette Cooper, John Healey (2)
- Voted against 1997 bill: Baroness Smith, Alan Campbell (2)
- Publicly stated support for 2024 bill: Ed Miliband, Lisa Nandy, Hilary Benn (3)
- Likely support but not commented on bill: Keir Starmer, Liz Kendall, Peter Kyle, Jo Stevens (4)
- Publicly stated opposition to 2024 bill: Shabana Mahmood, Wes Streeting (2)
- Likely oppose but not commented on bill: David Lammy, Jonathan Reynolds (2)
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has said he will “either abstain or vote against” the bill.
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(Last updated: 12 November 2024. First published: 29 October 2024)
Views of Labour cabinet ministers on assisted dying:
Keir Starmer
The prime minister voted in favour of assisted dying when the House of Commons last debated the matter in 2015. Starmer is understood to remain of this view, having told reporters last year: “I personally do think there are grounds for changing the law”.
Asked how he would vote in early October, the prime minister said his views were “pretty well known” but that he would look at the details of the bill being proposed.
Asked again how he would vote in November, Starmer said: “Look, it’s going to be a free vote and I mean that. It will be for every MP to decide for themselves how they want to vote.
“I’m not going to be putting any pressure whatsoever on Labour MPs. They will make their own mind up, as I will be.
“Obviously a lot will depend on the detail and we need to get the balance right but I’ve always argued there will need to be proper safeguards in place.”
Angela Rayner
The deputy prime minister voted against changing the law in 2015. In recent times, she has not commented on the matter publicly.
Rachel Reeves
The chancellor was absent from the 2015 vote on assisted dying. Asked about her views on assisted dying in an interview with The Times in June 2024, Reeves said: “I haven’t made up my mind about assisted dying.”
She added: “I would need to give it more consideration. I can understand why people would want it, and certainly, my mum’s parents suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia. The last few years of their life, my mum would say, were not worth living — they were deeply distressed and had no quality of life.
“But my worry would be that people would feel under pressure: ‘I’m no good for anybody; people would be better off without me.’ That would worry and scare me, so I’d want to make sure that the right safeguards were in place.”
Pat McFadden
The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster supported assisted dying in 2015. In recent times, he has not commented on the matter publicly.
David Lammy
The foreign secretary voted against the assisted dying bill in 2015. Commenting on the issue for his LBC show in May 2023, Lammy said he was “torn” due to his Christian faith.
“I’m worried that we start somewhere and that it sort of ends up leading to legalised murder”, he said.
Yvette Cooper
The home secretary was absent from the 2015 vote on assisted dying; but she did vote in favour of “Doctor Assisted Dying” in 1997. In recent times, she has not commented on the matter publicly.
John Healey
The defence secretary was absent for the vote on assisted dying in 2015, but, like Cooper, voted in favour of Doctor Assisted Dying in 1997.
Shabana Mahmood
The justice secretary voted against changing the law in 2015. In an interview with The Spectator in May, Mahmood said she plans to vote against changes to the law this parliament.
“I don’t intend to support it in the future”, Mahmood said. “I know some of the MPs who vocally support this issue think, ‘For God’s sake, we’re not a nation of granny killers, what’s wrong with you’… I feel that once you cross that line, you’ve crossed it forever. If it just becomes the norm that at a certain age or with certain diseases, you are now a bit of a burden… that’s a really dangerous position to be in.”
She has since restated that she will not vote against the bill proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. “As a Muslim, I have an unshakeable belief in the sanctity and the value of human life”, she told The Times. “I don’t think that death is a service that the state should be offering.”
Wes Streeting
The health secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. However, he has since stated that he will vote against Leadbeater’s bill due to concerns end of life care is not good enough for people to make an informed choice.
The Times first reported the health secretary told backbench MPs of his position during a meeting on 21 October. In comments reported by The Sun, Streeting told Labour MPs: “The challenge is, I do not think palliative care, end-of-life care, in this country is good enough to give people a real choice.
“I worry about coercion and the risk that the right to die feels like a duty to die on the part of, particularly, older people.”
Later questioned on his comments in an interview with ITV, the health secretary insisted he had not tried to “wade” into the debate
He said: “The government is neutral. Ministers are able to vote however we want. We’re subjected to a free vote.
“I hadn’t actually intended to wade into the debate last week. I was asked the question at a private meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party by a colleague, and I gave an honest answer.
“I’ve come down this time on voting against the bill on the basis that I worry about palliative care, end-of-life care not being good enough to give people a real choice.
“I worry about the risk of people being coerced into taking this route towards the end of their life.
“And I also worry, even where you’ve got really loving families who are very supportive, I really worry about those people who think they’ve almost got a duty to die to relieve the burden on their loved ones, and I’ve had to weigh those issues up against the very powerful arguments on the other side of the argument as well.
“I have huge admiration for my colleague, Kim Leadbeater, who’s bringing the bill forward, and ultimately it will be for parliament to decide. As a government we will implement whatever parliament decides.”
Bridget Phillipson
The education secretary voted against changing the law in 2015. In December 2023, she said that there was an “argument for having a vote.”
Ed Miliband
The energy security and net zero secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. Speaking in early October, Miliband told ITV that the current law on assisted dying is “cruel”.
He said: “For my part, I know there are people who are in the late stages of terminal illnesses, and I think the current situation is rather cruel actually.
“I think people having control over their own life and their own death is something that is the right thing to do. Obviously there have to be proper safeguards and I understand the concerns of some people on these issues, but my personal view will be to vote in favour of this bill.”
Liz Kendall
The work and pensions secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. Speaking at the time, Kendall described the legislation as a “step forward as a country.”
She told LBC: “We don’t talk about what might make a good death and it’s something other countries, I believe, may be more open about.”
Jonathan Reynolds
The business and trade secretary voted against changing the law in 2015. From 2021 to 2024, Reynolds was also a member of the Dying Well APPG, which opposed assisted dying in the last parliament.
In an interview with The House magazine in September, before Leadbeater’s bill was proposed, Reynolds said: “I’m not aware of any proposition to fast-track any legislation in this area. Obviously, these have always been personal conscience votes.
“I would have the same views I’ve always had on it, which is, I would really worry about how we would protect vulnerable people from that.”
He added: “I remember speeches from colleagues about family members, what it meant to them. I will always engage in that argument. But, as it stands, I personally wouldn’t vote for assisted dying to be introduced.”
In a statement posted to social media after Leadbeater unveiled her bill, Reynolds said: “A Private Members Bill has this week been presented to Parliament on Assisted Dying. This means it is not a Government Bill, and MPs will have a free vote on it.
“Constituents will know in the past I have always voted against proposals to change the law in this way. This is mainly because I have profound concerns about how vulnerable people could be protected should this happen.
“I also know this is a very emotive subject and many people will have been personally affected by the issues it covers.
“I would be grateful to receive the views of constituents about this over the next few weeks.”
Peter Kyle
The science, innovation and technology secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. Addressing the House of Commons at the time, he said: “In the most profound moment in everyone’s life, the moment of death, we have no control at all. For those in the knowledge of their imminent death, I think this is wrong.”
In a post to X/Twitter in 2020, Kyle wrote: “I agree with Andrew Mitchell. Assisted dying is a tough issue for our politics but we can’t keep sidestepping.
“We fight for choice and control throughout life but only the rich can afford choice (Switzerland) at the end of life. It’s time to think again.”
Mitchell, then a backbench MP, had predicted assisted dying could be legalised in the UK within four years.
Louise Haigh
The transport secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. In recent times, she has not commented on the matter publicly.
Steve Reed
The environment, food and rural affairs secretary was absent from the 2015 vote on assisted dying. In recent times, he has not commented on the matter publicly.
Lisa Nandy
The culture secretary was absent from the 2015 vote on assisted dying. But speaking in October, Nandy declared her support Leadbeater’s bill, telling the BBC that the current system is “unsustainable”.
She said: “I’ve just seen too many examples of people who have no choices and no dignity at the end of their lives. And I think the current system is unsustainable.”
“I very much agree with Wes [Streeting] that we need to improve palliative care in this country. But I want people to have the choice about how they’re treated at the end of their life.”
Hilary Benn
The Northern Ireland secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. In a statement posted to his website in October, Benn said he would be voting for Leadbeater’s bill, but that he was “torn” on the matter.
He said: “I have enormous respect for this view and like many moral questions there are lots of things to weigh in the balance, but I have to say that I will be voting for Kim Leadbeater’s bill.”
He added: “The Bill in 2015 was heavily defeated in the House of Commons on a free vote, but to judge by opinion polls, this is an issue on which the public appears now to be broadly in favour of a change in the law but it is the votes of individual MPs that will count.
“A decade on, I remain of the view that those who are facing the prospect of their own imminent death as a result of a terminal illness should be able to determine the timing and the manner of it, surrounded by those who love them and whom they love.”
Ian Murray
The Scotland secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. In relation to Holyrood legislation (the matter is a devolved issue), Murray said he does not “disagree with the principle of assisted dying.”
Jo Stevens
The Wales secretary voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. Commenting on the issue in a statement published on her website in September 2021, Stevens said: “As an MP, as a lawyer, and as an individual, I am convinced that we can do better for dying people.
“At present, it is illegal to assist or encourage a suicide, and the law makes no distinction between the suicide of a vulnerable person, due to depression or problems in their personal life; and the choice of a well-informed, competent, adult who is already dying, to control the manner and timing of their death.”
Lucy Powell
The leader of the House of Commons voted in favour of changing the law in 2015. In recent times, Powell has not publicly commented on the matter in a personal capacity.
Addressing the House in her capacity as commons leader in October, Powell said: “These matters, such as assisted dying, are matters of conscience, they’ve always traditionally been through Private Members’ Bills because the government doesn’t have a view and there will be a free vote for the government so there is no government time.”
The response came after Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson said that while many MPs welcomed the chance to debate assisted dying, more time was required to debate the issue.
Baroness Smith of Basildon
As the MP for Basildon, the now-leader of the House of Lords voted against changing the law in 1997. In recent times, she has not commented on the matter publicly.
Alan Campbell
The chief whip voted against changing the law in 1997 and did so again in 2015. In recent times, he has not commented on the matter publicly.
Darren Jones
The chief secretary to the Treasury was not a sitting MP for the last vote on assisted dying in 2015. Speaking to Sky News in December 2023, Jones declined to offer his personal view on the issue, but said: “Clearly there is demand from the public to have this debate and if the people want to have a debate on a subject like this, the House of Commons is there to serve the public and so it should be debated.”
Jones has since stated that he will either abstain or vote against the proposed change in the law.
Speaking to a town hall event on assisted dying, held in his Bristol North West constituency, Jones said he doesn’t believe a private members’ bill is the right way to change the law on “such a complex issue”.
He explained: “This is because private members’ bills, which are introduced by backbench MPs, don’t get anywhere near the same level of scrutiny and debate as the bills put forward by the government – and legalising assisted dying is far from a straightforward issue”.
He added: “I therefore plan to either abstain or vote against the bill on these grounds.”
Lord Hermer
The attorney general, who was appointed to his position and the House of Lords in July, has not commented on assisted dying publicly.
Anneliese Dodds
The international development minister was not a sitting MP for the last vote on assisted dying in 2015. Dodds has not commented on assisted dying publicly.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
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