MP Kim Leadbeater has brought a private member’s bill before the UK Parliament to legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. This was passed on its second reading on 29 November 2024, with 330 votes in favour and 275 against.

It has since been through a committee stage for further scrutiny and revisions before final votes are taken (the amended bill can be read here). The Bill was brought to the House of Commons for the report stage on 16 May, with a further debate on amendments on 13 June. The third reading (vote) was on 20 June, where it again passed, but with a reduced majority of only 23. It now moves on to the House of Lords, where it will be held up to further, even more detailed scrutiny, and it is likely that many amendments will be proposed before it returns to the Commons. Most of this will now happen in the autumn after the summer recess.

CMF, among others, will continue to pray and campaign for this Bill to be voted down in the Lords.

If you share our concerns, please review the resources below to help you engage with your MP and raise concerns within your professional body and/or Royal College.

• Salting the Slippery Slope is a four-session video course designed to help you understand the issues and respond practically.
• Protecting Patients from Assisted Suicide is a new resource to help you marshal the arguments against the Bill when talking to your MP or members of the House of Lords. It was jointly produced with the Christian Institute.
• CMF has been engaged in the debate around the legalisation of some form of assisted suicide or euthanasia (euphemistically lumped together as ‘assisted dying’ by some) for many years. Our blog archive has details of this as well as up-to-date comment related to the specifics of this Bill and many other related issues.
• A good summary of the issues is to be found in Rick Thomas’ CMF file on assisted suicide.
• CMF’s ‘Finger on the Pulse’ podcast of 30 October 2024 delves into the issues surrounding the Leadbeater Bill in more depth, and the CMF Podcast of 9 May explores further areas of concern and the expected next stages.

How to share your concerns about the current assisted suicide Bill with your MP or MSP

Many Christians are considering how to respond to Kim Leadbeater’s Bill in Westminster that seeks to legalise assisted suicide. Dr David Randall has been campaigning against assisted suicide legislation for some time alongside his work as a consultant physician. Here, he shares some wisdom on how we can share our concerns with our MPs and what sort of things we might want to consider saying. This video may be useful to watch by yourself or with others, such as at a Church service, prayer meeting, midweek meeting or small group. You can find your MP’s contact details using https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

A Christian response to the current assisted suicide Bill in Westminster

 Prof John Wyatt has many years of experience speaking and writing about ethics, including at the end of life.  Here, he shares biblical principles that lead us to how Christians can respond to the current Assisted Suicide Bill in Westminster.  This video may be useful to watch by yourself or with others, such as at a Church service, prayer meeting, midweek meeting or small group.