by John Pring, Disability News Service
A new government assessment has admitted that disabled people – and particularly older disabled people – could face subtle pressure to choose an assisted death, if a bill described as “unsafe” and “weak” by campaigners is approved by parliament.
The impact assessment was published by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last Thursday.
The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill will be debated and voted on by MPs next Friday.
The assessment’s publication came on the same day that prime minister Andy Burnham wrote to Labour MPs to say he would not vote on the bill on 11 September because he did not want to “unduly influence the debate as prime minister”.
He had already told the media that he believed the funding crisis in palliative and social care should be fixed before there is any debate about legalising assisted dying.
And he has now also told ministers that as the government will remain neutral on the bill, they should “avoid being part of the public debate, and should not express views” about the implications of the bill for their own departments.
The bill was first introduced to parliament in autumn 2024, but it ran out of time to complete its progress through the Lords at the end of the last parliamentary session in April.
Now the same private members’ bill that was narrowly approved by MPs in June 2025 is set to begin its progress through the Commons, in a fresh attempt at legalisation, this time led by Labour MP Lauren Edwards.
But a vote against the bill next Friday will see this latest bid to open the door to assisted suicide in England and Wales defeated.