The Labour Member of Parliament for North Northumberland has gone public with his views on the risks posed by assisted suicide becoming enshrined in UK law.
David Smith, who before being elected an MP in 2024 served as chief executive of Gateshead-based homelessness charity Oasis Community Housing, has said that the “painful debate” deserves the full attention of every MP.<br><br>The new Labour MP, whose win in this year's UK general election marked the first time ever that Labour had won in North Northumberland, said that having “received and considered heartfelt correspondence from both sides of the argument” since the announcement of the vote on an assisted suicide/assisted dying (AS/AD) Bill, he now wanted to make his position “clear”.
“I believe there is no legislation on this issue that can provide safeguards sufficient to stop unjust, unnecessary and premature deaths,” Smith said in a statement released on social media platform <em>X</em>.
“Therefore, I will be voting against legalising assisted suicide/assisted dying."
He says that an AS/AD law would “subtly shift the role of the NHS and the state from being a protector of life to an enabler of death", adding that “many public servants would be placed in an intolerable position in which they become complicit in enabling death”.
At the same time, he highlights: “There are already warnings from experienced clinicians that this law will increase the likelihood of some people with life-limiting medical conditions or disabilities being pressured by unscrupulous family members to end their lives.”
Smith adds that his reluctance, in part, is also influenced by the financial factors involved, explaining that “in a world of constrained public finances and the drive for cost-savings, it is easy to see how decisions of life and death could quickly be monetised, with all the pressure on frail individuals that this can entail”.
Echoing a point recently <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/bishop-of-nottingham-echoes-health-secretarys-fears-on-assisted-suicide-degrading-palliative-care/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">made by the Bishop of Nottingham on palliative care</mark></a>, Smith says that the UK has “some of the best palliative and end-of-life care in the world”, though “underfunding had led to gaps”, noting that “one in four people currently don’t get the end-of-life care and support they need, and as our society ages this is becoming a more acute concern”.
The MP for North Northumberland concludes: “If this debate has achieved anything, it is to highlight the fact that as a country we need to do more to provide the palliative care that so many of our loved ones need.
“That is where I believe we should focus our energy and resources in this important debate.”
Whether his background of working with the homeless has influenced Smith's position is not mentioned, but it has been noted by many critics of assisted suicide policy that after Canada made it legal for the terminally ill, the practise has been extended to include individuals such as the mentally ill and homeless. <br><br>The senior cancer specialist who treated former Labour Cabinet Minister Mo Mowlam when she was ill recently <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/assisted-suicide-would-be-disaster-for-cancer-patients-warns-mo-mowlams-doctor/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">warned</mark></a> of the danger of similar "mission creep" when it comes to cancer patients, if assisted suicide were to be legalised.
Professor Mark Glaser, a consultant oncologist, said that if Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill became law it would be a “disaster” for cancer patients, and would lead to the premature deaths of patients who might survive for years.
Smith notes that the upcoming bill will “unlike most legislation” not be put forward by the Government, but by a backbench MP, which means that MPs can decide how to vote on 29 November based on “personal conscious alone”.
<em>Photo: Labour MP David Smith; screenshot from <a href="https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/24432376.north-northumberland-election-results-david-smith-wins-labour/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">thenorthernecho.co.uk</mark></a>.</em>
