‘Bullying' grandparents into assisted death would carry life sentence, says MP

Telegraph

15-05-2025

People will face life in prison if they 'bully' their grandparents into an assisted death, the MP behind the proposed laws has said.
Kim Leadbeater, who is leading the bid to legalise assisted dying, said strict new safeguards would mean life sentences for people who try to force their relatives to kill themselves.
The Labour MP is sponsoring the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would allow adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to end their lives, subject to certain restrictions.
When it was first introduced to the Commons, the Bill stated that anyone who has coerced someone else into seeking an assisted death, or taking a lethal substance, would face up to 14 years in prison.
But the legislation has since been changed to distinguish between the severity of coercion – introducing life sentences for those who pressure someone into taking a substance that will end their life.
The sentence of 14 years remains for cases where individuals are pressured into raising their request for an assisted death with a doctor.
The amendment was tabled by Ms Leadbeater during the Bill's committee stage, which ended in March, and approved by the group of MPs tasked with scrutinising the legislation line by line.
On Friday, the whole House of Commons will be able to debate further changes to the Bill for the first time since they voted to legalise assisted dying in principle in November.
'The law needs to change'
In a phone-in on LBC on Thursday, Ms Leadbeater was asked if the 'ultimate sanction' for someone found to have 'effectively bullied grandma to an early grave' would be life imprisonment.
She replied: 'Yes, under this Bill. And that is, again, why the law needs to change. So we talk a lot about the moral and the ethical issues, but the legal point is the law needs to change.'
She made the clarification after a listener stressed the importance of 'deterrence' against pressuring someone to take their own lives, suggesting the consequences should be 'akin to aiding and abetting a murder'.
Ms Leadbeater said her Bill created criminal offences 'exactly to that effect', arguing it would actually strengthen current laws around coercion.
She said: 'Those offences do not exist at the moment, because going back to the status quo, we have people taking their own lives at the moment, and we have got no idea if they've been coerced or pressured by anybody to do that.
'Even the people who do make that journey to Switzerland, is there someone saying to them, do you know what, the time might be right, maybe you should do [it], we've got no idea. And this is the point that legal people make. There is no safeguarding and no protections around that.
'Within this Bill, we have multiple levels of safeguards and checks for coercion and pressure, and we also have criminal offences that mean you could go to prison for life if you are found guilty of that.'
The initial version of the Bill proposed a prison sentence of up to 14 years for individuals who 'by dishonesty, coercion or pressure', influenced another person to request an assisted death or to take an approved lethal substance.
Following the committee stage, it now states that the latter form of coercion, where a person is pressured to actually take their own life, could lead to a life sentence.
Bill at risk of collapse
It comes after The Telegraph disclosed the Bill is at risk of failing because MPs are considering pulling their support.
MPs voted 330 to 275 to legalise assisted dying last year in a historic vote. But just 28 need to switch sides for the Bill to fail when it returns to the Commons on Friday.
The Telegraph understands that at least 15 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who either abstained or supported the Bill previously are now considering voting against it.
Asked about the reports, Ms Leadbeater told LBC: 'I'm certainly not getting that impression from the conversations I'm having with parliamentary colleagues.
'There might be some move in either direction, but certainly not a huge amount of movement.'