All Croydon’s MPs vote for controversial Assisted Dying Bill

Film star Adam Pearson says he is ‘heartbroken’ by Commons vote: ‘We have a government who are willing to help disabled people die whilst doing nothing to help them live’

All four of Croydon’s MPs – three Labour, one Conservative – voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill when it had its second reading in at the House of Commons yesterday.

But some disability rights groups and activists reacted with dismay that the Bill passed this stage with a vote of 330 for and 275 against.

The private member’s Bill, brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, would give terminally ill adults with less than six months to live the right to die once the request has been signed off by two doctors and a High Court judge.

Steve Reed (Labour, Streatham and Croydon North), Sarah Jones (Labour, Croydon West), Natasha Irons (Labour, Croydon East) and Chris Philp (Conservative, Croydon South) all voted in favour. The vote was unusual in that it was a “free vote”, without the intervention of the whips’ offices, with MPs able to vote with their conscience, or based on submissions from their constituents.

In a near-1,000-word posting on social media, Jones, who has been a Croydon MP since 2017, wrote, “I have concerns around some aspects of the Bill that I would like to see changed. So whilst I voted to continue to debate this legislation, I have not yet made up my mind whether I will support it further down the line.”

Jones thanked constituents who had sent her “personal and sometimes painful letters about their experiences and beliefs”, after having held meetings in the past week with those in favour and against the Bill.

“Everyone is agreed that palliative care is not good enough in this country. I agree that we must act to improve it. I also agree that this legislation has sparked a debate about end-of-life care, and shone a light on the postcode lottery that we see across our country…

“Passing this legislation does cross a new and significant line in the law and we need to proceed with caution to ensure there are protections and safeguards in place.”

And Jones warned, “I cannot imagine anyone trying to coerce people into ending their lives. But we know that coercion happens, that it can be hidden and that it can be evil.” The MP referenced one speech in the debate, by Diane Abbott, who voted against the Bill because of serious, unresolved concerns over the possibility of coercion.

“Fundamentally,” Jones concluded, “I was persuaded by the argument that people should have the right to take control of their final weeks when they are dying, should they want to. There are some conditions or intractable cases where palliative care cannot help. Where pain and suffering is unbearable. Giving those people the right to make a decision to end their lives does not take away anyone else’s right to continue to fight for theirs.”

The Bill is not yet law. It has passed its Second Reading and will be scrutinised by the Commons and the House of Lords and will only become law if MPs vote for it again at its Third Reading.

Because yesterday’s was a free vote, it appeared that the standard of MPs’ behaviour in the chamber, and the quality of debate, was much improved.

“All too often debates in the Commons are partisan affairs, punctuated by jeers and braying. Where reason is superseded by dogma and ill-temper,” noted John Crace, The Guardian’s parliamentary sketchwriter.

“This was a very different occasion. Parliament on its very best behaviour. Where necessary, people – mostly politely – agreeing to disagree. MPs heard in silence. Some in tears… The quality of argument was a cut above the average.”

Tory MP Kit Malthouse had said during the debate: “The deathbed for far too many is a source of misery, torture and degradation. A reign of blood and vomit and tears. I see no compassion and beauty in that, only profound human suffering.”

As MP Jones suggested, the debate also highlighted further shortcomings in the NHS, around palliative care and end-of-life hospice provision, much of which has to be provided by charities.

James Sanderson, the chief executive of the palliative care and bereavement charity, Sue Ryder, said, “Ahead of the vote on assisted dying, the health secretary recognised the need to strengthen end-of-life care, and the Prime Minister said he would invest in it regardless of the result.

“The government cannot now backtrack. It must fix end-of-life care.

“MPs have a duty to ensure no one feels an assisted death is their only option simply because the care they need isn’t available.”

And Adam Pearson, the Croydon-based film star and disability rights activist, said: “I’m heartbroken today that we have a government who are willing to help disabled people die whilst doing nothing to help them live.

“The ‘better off dead’ rhetoric of disability and terminal illness appears to be alive and well – and in 2024 I guess I’d hoped for better.”

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