Britain | The Victorian example

Where British MPs should look before the vote on assisted dying

The closest analogue to Kim Leadbeater’s bill is not Canadian but Australian

A nurse attending to a pateient behind curtains, the light coming through the blinds
Illustration: Katherine Lam
|Melbourne

Members of Parliament in Britain usually have a party line to toe. But occasionally, on matters of conscience, they are given a “free vote” and the chance to exercise their judgment independently. On November 29th MPs must make up their minds on one of the most consequential issues of all: whether people in England and Wales have the right to an assisted death. That is the date of the second reading of a private member’s bill put forward by Kim Leadbeater, a Labour backbencher, which would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The Victorian example”

From the November 23rd 2024 edition

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