Poll suggests support for better end-of-life care over assisted dying Bill
The polling, commissioned by a group opposed to assisted dying being legalised, 'blows apart the arguments that the public are desperate' for a change in the law, a campaigner claimed.
Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater said last week that MPs should not have to choose between supporting assisted dying or palliative care as it is not an 'either/or' conversation for dying people.
She said palliative care and assisted dying 'can and do work side by side to give terminally-ill patients the care and choice they deserve in their final days', and urged MPs to support 'all options available to terminally ill people'.
An amendment to the Bill, requiring the Health Secretary to publish an assessment of the availability, quality and distribution of palliative and end-of-life care one year after the Bill passing into law, could be voted on on Friday.
Friday is also set to be the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill's third reading stage, which is likely to see the overall Bill voted on for the first time since November's historic yes vote, when a majority of 55 supported the principle of assisted dying for England and Wales.
The latest polling, commissioned by Care Not Killing and carried out by British Polling Council member Whitestone, saw 2,089 UK adults surveyed online between May 30 and June 1.
Respondents, who are said to have been weighted to be a representative sample, were told of concerns raised by the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Psychiatrists and the Association for Palliative Medicine about the Bill in its current form as well as opposition from disability campaigners.
In this context, they were asked about replacing the Bill with a plan to improve and invest in palliative care – to which 69% agreed, and about a Royal Commission being set up to consider and make recommendations for a holistic end-of-life and palliative care service – with which 61% agreed.
Almost two thirds (65%) said the Government's priority should be sorting out palliative and social care before changing the law – down very slightly from 66% last year.
Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, said: 'This major new poll blows apart the arguments that the public are desperate for a so-called assisted dying law.
'The public want the Government and MPs to focus on fixing the NHS and palliative care which they know are broken. After all one in four Brits who would benefit from palliative care aren't currently receiving it, while in many places services are piecemeal, part-time or facing cuts.'
It comes as former prime minister Gordon Brown repeated his opposition to assisted dying.
Writing in the Guardian, he said: 'It has become clear that whatever views people hold on the principle, passing the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill into law would privilege the legal right to assisted dying without guaranteeing anything approaching an equivalent right to high-quality palliative care for those close to death.'
He said MP's personal preferences 'cannot be separated off from the duties they have as members of a community to ensure that the way we treat the dying reflects the values of a decent, compassionate country'.
He added: 'That should mean upholding the role of the medical professions as care-givers, and exclusively care-givers; avoiding the possibility of private profiteering by legal-medical consortiums which might well commercialise assisted dying as a lucrative business; safeguarding vulnerable people about whose fate the royal medical colleges have all expressed concern; preventing unacceptable coercive pressures that can be brought to bear on disabled people, and those who are incapacitated or mentally stressed; and thus showing that as a society we value life above death.'
Dozens of Labour MPs called for Friday's overall vote to be delayed, asking for more time to scrutinise a Bill they brand as 'perhaps the most consequential piece of legislation that has appeared before the House in generations'.
Writing to Commons leader Lucy Powell, they said: 'We implore you as the Leader of the House to allocate more Parliamentary time to the scrutiny of this Bill, the valid concerns that members have about its implementation, and the consequences it could have on vulnerable populations.'
A Government spokesperson said: 'This Bill has been brought as a Private Members' Bill. The amount of time for debate is therefore a matter for the House.'
The Bill's sponsor, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, has repeatedly stated that her proposed legislation has been strengthened since it was first introduced last year, insisting it is subject to robust safeguards.
Medical staff are among some of the MPs who back the Bill.
As it stands, the proposed legislation would allow terminally-ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.
MPs are entitled to have a free vote on the Bill and any amendments, meaning they decide according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer voted in favour of the Bill last year, but said the Government remains neutral on the issue.
Both Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood voted against.
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