Gordon Brown voices opposition to assisted dying legislation

Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown has publicly declared his opposition to a new law on assisted dying. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would permit certain terminally-ill individuals to have a medically-assisted death, is scheduled for parliamentary debate by MPs next Friday. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced the bill, asserting it could prevent harrowing deaths, following an extensive campaign by proponents, including Esther Rantzen, who believe the law requires amendment. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme, Brown stated that “people want to know what the evidence is for the scale of the challenge” and called for more discussion on the issue. Having stepped down as an MP in 2015, Brown will not cast a vote, but his perspective continues to hold influence within the Labour Party. MPs are set to have a free vote on Friday, meaning they can follow their conscience rather than party directives. Brown’s stance aligns him with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, and the two longest-serving MPs in the Commons, all of whom have spoken out against the bill. However, the views of many other MPs remain undisclosed. In an opinion column for The Guardian on Friday, Brown recounted the death of his first daughter, Jennifer Jane, at only 11 days old, and how this experience reinforced his belief that “this is not the right time to make such a profound decision”. He stated, “The experience of sitting with a fatally ill baby girl did not convince me of the case for assisted dying; it convinced me of the value and imperative of good end-of-life care.” Advocating for a commission on palliative care, Brown acknowledged that both sides of the assisted dying debate share a common concern and “genuine compassion felt for all those suffering painful deaths”. However, he remarked that with “the NHS still at its lowest ebb,” “we need to show we can do better at assisted living before deciding whether to legislate on ways to die.” He further added: “An assisted dying law, however well intended, would alter society’s attitude towards elderly, seriously ill and disabled people, even if only subliminally, and I also fear the caring professions would lose something irreplaceable – their position as exclusively caregivers.” He continued, “Add to that the slippery slope with lawmakers, undoubtedly out of compassion, finding the erosion of safeguards and the extension of eligibility hard to resist.” During his interview with the BBC’s Sunday programme, Brown reiterated many of the points raised in his opinion column and called for citizens’ assemblies—where a group is brought together to learn about and discuss a particular issue—to enhance public understanding. “People want to know what the evidence is for the scale of the challenge,” he informed host Julie Etchingham, adding: “I don’t think we’ve had this debate in full, in this country yet.” Brown is a longstanding critic of assisted dying, and in a 2008 interview with the Archbishop of Westminster, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that he was “totally against laws” allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia, arguing they could put vulnerable people under pressure. In the BBC interview, Brown also discussed how his faith has shaped his life and beliefs, stating: “I see life as a gift. I see it as something to be valued.” He further mentioned that while religious views contribute to his position on the issue, “it’s important to put the secular argument that people can understand – that it is possible to avoid so much of the pain that people are experiencing and we haven’t invested enough in doing that.” MPs last addressed the issue of assisted dying in parliament in 2015, after Brown had stepped down as an MP, when proposals to change the law were overwhelmingly rejected. Public opinion indicates majority support for changing the law, with the latest YouGov poll showing 73% of Britons support allowing assisted dying in principle. Campaigning for both sides continues in the lead-up to Friday’s vote, which will be the first public expression of MPs’ support. With a week remaining for opinions to shift and hundreds of new MPs who have not yet publicly stated their views, the outcome is difficult to predict, although there are some indications it could be close. Responding to the opinion column, Leadbeater stated she was moved by Brown’s words and agreed on the necessity for better palliative care, but emphasized that Friday’s decision was not a choice between one or the other. She remarked: “I was deeply touched by Gordon Brown’s description of how he and Sarah surrounded their new-born daughter with love as her life slipped away.” She continued, “I know how hard it is to talk about loss but it’s important that we have these conversations. “He says that baby Jennifer’s death convinced him of the value of good end-of-life care and I agree with him completely.” Britain already possesses “probably the best palliative care in the world,” she said, stressing that her bill also includes a requirement for a government report on the availability and quality of palliative care. She stated: “He [Brown] and I agree on very many things but we don’t agree on this. “Only legislation by parliament can put right what Sir Keir Starmer calls the ‘injustice that we have trapped within our current arrangement’. “The need to address the inability of the current law to provide people with safeguards against coercion and the choice of a better death, and to protect their loved ones from possible prosecution, cannot wait.”