‘I don't think I should be God': Labour MP withdraws support for assisted dying

Telegraph

15-05-2025

The first Labour supporter of the assisted dying Bill has broken rank, saying he will now abstain because he does not believe he should 'be God'.
Karl Turner, MP for Kingston upon Hull East since 2010, is the first Labour MP who backed Kim Leadbeater's Bill in November to confirm he will not support it at the next major vote.
MPs voted 330 to 275 at second reading last year in a historic move to legalise assisted dying. Just 28 MPs switching sides would be enough to kill the Bill when it returns to the Commons.
The Telegraph can reveal that Mr Turner, who also supported Lord Falconer's 2015 Bill, is among a growing number of MPs raising concerns about the proposed law change.
He told The Telegraph: 'I was enthusiastic in 2015 when it came along in the form of Charlie Falconer, and I've been relatively enthusiastic thereafter, but I am worried, if I'm honest with you, about the safeguards in terms of judicial scrutiny.'
Mr Turner said he now planned to abstain at Third Reading, but added: 'I think if I was forced, I would vote against. If there was no option to abstain, I would go and vote against right now.'
Debbie Abrahams, Labour MP and head of the work and pensions committee, confirmed to The Telegraph that she would vote against the Bill, having previously abstained.
Mr Turner warned the Bill risks failing to protect terminally ill people who may choose assisted death to avoid burdening loved ones, and said he was not persuaded that Ms Leadbeater's replacement of a High Court judge with a three-member panel would offer sufficient scrutiny.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow adults with fewer than six months to live to receive medical assistance to die, with approval from two doctors and a multi-disciplinary panel.
Ms Leadbeater has already faced a significant backlash over her decision to replace the High Court judge – who previously had the final sign-off – with a panel made up of a psychiatrist, social worker and lawyer.
Mr Turner, who watched almost every minute of the committee debates, said he was persuaded by arguments from Conservative MPs who he would 'instinctively think were talking nonsense'.
'I feel a bit pathetic, to be honest, because I feel a bit like I've turned into a Conservative on these social issues,' he said.
'I used to be very liberal, but I just don't think – I'm going to sound like I'm religious, I'm not particularly – but I just don't think I should be God at the minute. It's not my job. I've got enough on my plate.'
In recent days, interventions from medical bodies including the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Physicians have prompted MPs to come forward with concerns.
The Telegraph understands that at least 18 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats who previously backed the Bill or abstained are now considering voting against.
These MPs join Lee Anderson and his former Reform UK colleague Rupert Lowe, who have previously publicly declared they plan to oppose the legislation.
This shift comes a day before Ms Leadbeater's bill returns to the Commons for debate on a raft of amendments.
While a final vote on the bill is technically possible on Friday, the volume of proposed changes means MPs are expected to need two sittings – making a third reading unlikely before 20 June.
On Wednesday, The Telegraph revealed that Charlie Dewhirst, the Conservative MP for Bridlington and the Wolds, who previously abstained, now intends to vote against.
'I am concerned now that the scope is very wide,' he said.
'There seems to be a lack of protections, for example, for people with autism. And it really feels to me that it's far wider than we were assured it was going to be to start with.
'So for that reason, I can't support it in all good conscience.'
Tory grandee Sir David Davis and Bobby Dean, the Liberal Democrat MP for Casterton and Wallington, who also previously backed the Bill, told The Telegraph they are undecided.
Another former bill supporter, the former Conservative minister George Freeman, told Times Radio that Ms Leadbeater's bill risks creating a 'suicide culture' and a 'Dignitas industry' and he intended to vote it down.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Turner, who trained as a lawyer before being elected as an MP, said he was unconvinced by Ms Leadbeater's argument that removing High Court judges from the process has strengthened the Bill.
'I'm not massively persuaded by the fact that it's 'even more secure than it ever was now, because it's a panel of three, and could be a retired judge, and it would be a lawyer at least by trade',' he said.
'I've met lawyers, and some of them are good and some of them are crap. And the reality is, it doesn't satisfy me on the scrutiny point.'
However, he said the loss of judicial oversight was not the main reason he had 'gone off the idea'. What ultimately changed his mind were the arguments put forward by Conservative MPs during the committee stage.
'I watched virtually every single minute of the committee stage remotely, and that's something I've never done on any bill in the entirety of my time in Parliament,' he said. 'I was like a mad person, glued to the computer screen watching the bill committee, because this legislation is really serious.'
He explained: 'The committee stages were incredibly instructive to me. The people who were speaking were the people who I would naturally and instinctively think were talking crap, but they were putting arguments together which were persuading me.
'In other words, the hard Right-wing Tories, who you would instinctively think were talking nonsense, if you're a socialist like I am, were actually persuading me that there's a question mark that needs to be addressed.'
Among the issues that swayed him were concerns that people might opt for assisted death because they felt like a burden, and that family members may not even be notified beforehand.
In committee, Ms Leadbeater and her supporters voted down an amendment requiring families to be informed prior to an assisted death taking place, arguing it could breach privacy and that not all people have good relationships with relatives.
Mr Turner said: 'Well, that's all well and good, but when you're talking about a scenario whereby somebody is dead the next few days or weeks or months, then the conversation needs to be brought about. I think for me, the arguments against that one are more persuasive, frankly.'
He also expressed concern about people pressuring themselves into opting for an assisted death.
'I also feel concerned about coercion,' he said. 'Not in the sense that family members would coerce in order to benefit from some estate, I don't think that's true, but what I do worry about is individuals have got something terrible, and they don't want to be a burden on the family. That worries me.'
While he acknowledged some terminally ill people may genuinely want to die sooner to spare their families, he said this argument cuts both ways.
'I'm not particularly religious, but my worry is you are coerced into [an assisted death], not through all the parties coercing you, [but] coerced by yourself to end it. So I'm worried about this, I am worried about this legislation,' he said.
The Labour MP was also troubled by a warning this week from the Royal College of Psychiatrists that there may not be enough psychiatrists to staff the proposed panels.
'That worries me, because they were initially all right about it, and they've now changed the tune en mass,' he said.
Pointing to further concerns raised by the Royal College of Physicians, he said: 'I just don't think we've got it right for now. And I'm worried that it's too serious, if I'm honest.'
At Second Reading in November, nearly twice as many Labour MPs voted for Ms Leadbeater's Bill than against it (234 to 147), with 18 abstentions. The majority of Tory MPs opposed the proposed legislation (92 to 23, with three abstentions), while the majority of Lib Dems were in favour (61 to 11).
Three Reform UK MPs supported the bill, and two opposed.
The next stage of the Bill – a third reading, where it could be killed off – is expected next month, and will likely fall on Friday, June 20.
Mr Turner, who will not be able to attend the final vote due to childcare commitments, was critical of his own indecision.
'I'm not enthusiastic enough to go and vote against either, which is a bit pathetic, because I find MPs who sit on the fence deserve to have spikes in the backside,' he said.
'You're elected to do a job and you should vote for or against something. You shouldn't just sit out of it, in my view, and that's been my attitude forever, but I'm just not enthusiastic enough to vote against, but not enthusiastic enough to vote for.'
This inability to be convinced either way has left him 'a little bit ashamed', he conceded, adding: 'I think if I was forced, I would vote against. If there was no option to abstain, I would go and vote against right now. So that's how I feel.'
Ms Abrahams, the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said in November that she was concerned about society approving the principle that 'the state will assist someone to die'.
She said in a statement: 'As we have seen in Canada and Belgium this has led to additional groups of people being deemed eligible for an assisted death.'
It comes as Ms Leadbeater confirmed that people who bully their grandparents into an assisted death could face life in prison.
Speaking on LBC on Thursday, the Labour MP said anyone who pressures a family member into ending their life would be jailed under strict safeguards in the legislation.
When first introduced, the Bill proposed up to 14 years in prison for coercing someone into seeking or undergoing an assisted death. But it has since been toughened to allow life sentences.
Ms Leadbeater said: '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.'