How I will be voting on the Assisted Dying Bill (3rd Reading)

On Friday 13 June, I will be voting in favour of the Assisted Dying Bill.

This is not a decision I take lightly. It follows months of careful thought, listening, and heartfelt conversations with constituents, healthcare professionals, people of faith, and families who have experienced the agony of watching a loved one suffer at the end of their life.

The correspondence I have received from people on all sides of this debate has been full of passion, care and consideration. I want to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, who has been in touch with me on this deeply important issue.

In my opinion the heart of this debate is compassion, dignity, and the right of individuals facing terminal illness to have greater control over their final days. I will be voting in favour of the assisted dying bill because I believe that, with the right safeguards in place, we can offer people choice, without undermining the value we place on every life.

As a liberal, it is my view that the individual has the right of choice over their own life, whatever shape that may take. No two people placed in similar circumstances will make the same decisions about how their final days should look, and we must ensure that every one is properly supported.

I believe that it is fundamental that no matter what decision a person may make, their right to choose, and carry out their last days with as much dignity and love as can be afforded to them, is guaranteed.

This is a deeply personal and sensitive issue to everyone, and I will always respect that people hold sincere and differing views to me. I want to re-iterate my thanks to everyone who has conducted this debate with such sensitivity and compassion as the issue deserves. 

As this will be a vote of conscience, meaning that MPs will not be instructed how to vote by their parties, this decision is mine, and mine alone, to make. Because I will not be able to be in Parliament, as I undergo treatment for a recently diagnosed auto-immune condition, I will be asking my proxy to vote in favour of the Assisted Dying Bill. 

Ultimately, I believe that allowing a dying person the legal right to choose a peaceful end at the time of their choice, is the humane and responsible thing to do.