Ed Davey 'minded' to vote against assisted dying bill

Lib Dem person Sir Ed Davey has said helium is "minded" to ballot against an upcoming measure to legalise assisted dying.

MPs are owed to statement proposals to springiness terminally sick radical successful England and Wales the close to take to extremity their life.

The measure was introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater aft the premier curate said helium would let a escaped ballot - meaning Labour MPs tin take based connected their ain conscience alternatively than having to travel the enactment line.

The contented has divided Parliament, with MPs divided by morals and applicable concerns.

Sir Ed - who is besides giving his MPs a escaped ballot - warned that aged and disabled radical mightiness consciousness pressured to extremity their lives if they felt similar a "burden”.

Sir Ed said helium was "open-minded" and would perceive to the debate, but added helium was "very minded" to ballot against.

The Kingston and Surbiton MP said helium was acrophobic astir the “psychological impact” of legalised assisted dying connected aged and disabled people, mostly due to the fact that of his ain mother's conflict with bony cancer.

Sir Ed told reporters helium administered morphine to his parent to assistance her woody with the symptom of her information towards the extremity of her life.

Despite being successful symptom earlier she died, Sir Ed said helium did not deliberation “she would person wanted" the enactment to person idiosyncratic assistance her instrumentality her ain life.

Instead of focussing connected assisted dying, the Lib Dem person argued the UK should “do overmuch better” connected palliative care.

Better end-of-life attraction would easiness people’s fears of a achy death, making galore cases of assisted termination unnecessary, helium said.

Assisted dying mostly refers to a idiosyncratic who is terminally sick seeking aesculapian assistance to get lethal drugs successful bid to instrumentality their ain life.

Throughout the UK, laws forestall radical from asking for aesculapian assistance to die.

Euthanasia is amerciable nether English instrumentality and is considered manslaughter oregon murder. The maximum punishment is beingness imprisonment.

In Scotland, it is imaginable that helping a idiosyncratic to dice could pb to prosecution for an offence specified arsenic culpable homicide.

MPs are owed to ballot connected Leadbetter's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill connected 29 November.

Full details person not yet been released, but measure is expected to beryllium akin to 1 introduced in the House of Lords successful July 2024, which said terminally sick adults with six months oregon little to unrecorded would beryllium capable to get aesculapian assistance to extremity their ain lives.