Assisted Dying Bill: People in the North West have their say as MPs take historic vote

ITV Granada Reports political correspondent Líse McNally heard from people on both sides of the debate as MPs prepared for the historic vote.

An MP who has sponsored a bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales says the debate was about "dignity, respect and compassion".

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, brought forward by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, would allow adults with less than six months left to live the choice of taking their own lives.

For a person to be eligible under the proposed law, they must also be aged 18 or older and have the mental capacity to make the choice, which must be signed off by at least two doctors and a High Court judge.

MPs voted in favour of the bill on Friday, 29 November, in the first debate and vote of its kind in the House of Commons since 2015.

Among them was Paula Barker, Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, who co-sponsors the Bill and says she supports it because of her own personal experience.

Her father died two weeks before her second birthday and she has spoken to her mum who nursed him passing away "in a lot of pain" and she said "they do not want other families to go through that".

"We have wonderful NHS staff and wonderful hospices but even the best palliative care can't stop pain at the end of life," she said.

She believes the current system only allows the wealthy to be able to travel abroad for a dignified death.

The MP said she is confident safeguards are in place in the legislation to prevent patients being coerced into ending their life.

Greater Manchester's Coalition of Disabled People profoundly disagrees with the proposed bill.

The coalition said "now is the wrong time to be supporting such legislation" because "disabled people are not getting the support they need to live".

Dennis Queen, a Disabilty Rights Activist in Manchester, said the discussion is "painful and frightening" for disabled people when people are debating ending lives.

She explains: "I don't think that people who created the idea of the NHS were thinking at the time that some of the money that goes into it would be used to prescribe lethal medicine instead of supporting people. It's frightening.

"The safeguards in the bill don't go anywhere near far enough to save and support the people who are going to be worst affected by the already ruined health care and social care service."

A retired teacher from Wigan with incurable bone marrow cancer urged MPs to back the bill to give people in his situation a choice to end their suffering.

Brian Griffin, 72, had a second stem cell transplant three years ago and said the only options available to him are limited chemotherapy and palliative care.

But after watching a relative die in agonising pain in hospital he believes assisted dying is the only "humane option".

If the law is not changed he said: "It is down to three options; save, suicide or suffer."

His wife of 50 years, Denise, said it is difficult to see Brian in so much pain and urged MPs to give them the choice to end his suffering if necessary.

James Frith, Labour MP for Bury North is opposed to the bill as a long supporter of palliative and hospice care.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow adults with less than six months left to live the choice of taking their own lives, with a number of conditions.

But the MP does not believe there are sufficient safeguards in the proposed legislation to protect people.

Of the 650 MPs in the Commons 330 MPs voted for the bill and 275 voted against.

In the North West 35 of the region's 71 MPs voted for the bill, while 30 voted against and seven abstained or had a valid reason not to cast their ballot.

Of those in the cabinet, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Commons Leader Lucy Powell voted for, while Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds voted against.

Meanwhile the Isle of Man's assisted dying bill has passed another parliamentary hurdle, as it moves even closer to becoming law.

Senior politicians in the Legislative Council (LegCo) voted seven to one to pass the bill through the Principles stage in November 2024 - the initial debate in the upper chamber of Tynwald, where they are able to discuss the wider subject of the bill.

It means assisted dying could become an option for those living on the Isle of Man as soon as 2027.

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