Jeremy Corbyn

ISLINGTON North MP Jeremy Corbyn has warned that the new assisted dying bill may make terminally ill people “feel forced or pressured to prematurely end their life”.

A historic vote last Friday saw the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill backed by 314 votes to 291. Arguments in favour and against have been debated in the news cycles for months, with some MPs saying the legislation will finally offer dignity to the very sick, and others fearing that patients could be coerced.

Before the vote, Mr Corbyn released a statement outlining why he planned to vote against. He said: “I understand why many people feel so passionately about their right to die when suffering from a terminal illness. Under the existing system, people endure real, lasting and unbearable pain.”

Mr Corbyn added that “any legislation of this kind must robustly safeguard against abuse”, but said he was not satisfied that these safeguards were in place.

He said: “Choice at the end of life can only be meaningful in a system where everybody has access to the best palliative care possible, but chronic underfunding has left many of those suffering from terminal illness without the support they need. Without addressing these deficiencies, this legislation puts the poorest, the elderly and disabled people at risk of serious neglect and discrimination.”

The veteran MP called on the government “to address the appalling state of palliative care by rever­sing years of austerity and privatisation”.

He added: “This should be part of a broader imperative to build a National Care Service, freely available to all who need it, whenever they need it, wherever they need it. This would be a care system that treats those with serious illnesses and disabilities not as burdens but as people whose lives have equal worth.”

It was a free vote, meaning that MPs did not have to vote along party political lines.

Islington South MP Emily Thornberry supported the bill.

In a letter to constituents earlier this year, she wrote: “From a moral standpoint, I am in favour of being able to give people a choice toward the end of their life, for much the same reasons as many of the supporters of the Bill: I would have liked for my close family members to have had a choice toward the end of their life, and I would like to be able to decide for myself if it ever came to it.”

She added: “The bill proposed by Kim Leadbeater contains a number of safeguards that I believe help make the Bill safe in practice, such as the mandatory periods of reflection, the two-doctor approval, the judicial oversight, and the creation of criminal offences specifically targeting the risk of coercion. It is my view that with these robust safeguards, it is possible to prevent abuse, and to make sure that the decision is taken solely by the terminally ill person.”

Catherine West, the former leader of Islington Council and now MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet, is marked as not having voted. Meg Hillier, a former mayor of Islington now MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, voted against.