CARLISLE MP Julie Minns has announced that she ‘cannot support’ the assisted dying bill which is set to go before parliament on Friday.

Following a controversial debate, MPs will vote this week on whether to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people.

Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater’s legislation will come before the Commons on Friday, with the first debate and vote of its kind in the House since 2015.

Members will be given a free vote on the issue, allowing them to make a decision according to their own conscience rather than in line with party policy.

Opponents to changing the law have argued some people could feel pressured to have an assisted death against their will and have called for more focus on improving and ensuring equal access to palliative care.

Campaigners who are terminally ill or have watched loved ones die in pain have called the existing legislation “unbelievably cruel” and pointed out that animals suffering severely can be legally euthanised.

Faith leaders have condemned the proposals and more than 1,000 Church of England priests – including the Bishop of Penrith and six other priests in the Diocese of Carlisle – have signed a letter calling on MPs to vote against the proposals.

In an open letter to constituents, Julie Minns said that she had spent a ‘great deal of time’ studying the arguments around assisted dying, but couldn’t support the bill for three key reasons:

  • The reservations expressed by disabled people and disability organisations.
  • The fact that everyone should have the right to a good death, but the bill deals with only one kind
  • The fact that she believes there can be no watertight safeguards against coercion

Ms Minns said that it had not been an ‘easy decision’ to make but hopes it can be respected.

In the letter to constituents, Julie Minns said: “Since the announcement that assisted dying legislation will be coming before Parliament, I have spent a great deal of time reading around the subject, and reading the hundreds of emails from constituents.

“Constituents have expressed a wide range of views, from those who are strongly for, those who are against, and those who ask only that I vote with clear eyes and a strong heart.

“I have also listened.

“I have listened to the life stories of countless constituents, whose experiences and traumas are heartbreaking and at times uplifting. 

“I’ve listened to mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, and those who are themselves terminally ill. 

“Some wish to alleviate the suffering of their loved ones, or themselves, or to prevent it happening to anyone else, while others fear they will be pressured to die, or lose loved ones prematurely to a state-run programme. 

“I recently chaired a discussion for local residents on the topic of assisted dying in Carlisle, at Yewdale Community Centre.

“We heard firsthand how individual experiences can form strong convictions, both for and against assisted dying, and I’d like to especially thank the people who shared their personal stories.

“I also have my own personal experience of loved ones who have survived a suicide attempt, and of those who died by suicide, as well as my experience of living with and losing those closest to me to slow, painful, degenerative conditions.

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“This was never going to be an easy decision. I am instinctively pro-choice. But I have concluded that I cannot support the Bill for three key reasons:

“The reservations expressed by many disabled people and disability organisations.

“To vote in favour is, in effect, a vote to fund one - and only one - form of death. Everyone should have the right to a good death. This Bill only deals with one.

“There is nothing definitive about a six-month terminal prognosis, yet the Bill will require this - nor do I believe there can be watertight safeguards against coercion.

“This has not been an easy decision, but I hope - whatever the outcome of the vote - it is respected for being taken after detailed consideration.”