Stormont's ex-health minister Robin Swann comes out strongly against assisted dying

Robin Swann made the comments on Wednesday as the public debate continues over the bill now before Parliament, which would let medics help to kill people in certain circumstances.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater MBE earlier this month, with the idea being that if someone has six months or less to live they can legally be provided with the drugs to kill themselves.

Mr Swann, the UUP MP for South Antrim and party leader from 2017 and 2019, spent about three years as health minister in different stints between 2020 and 2024.

He said that the issue “is a matter of conscience for the Ulster Unionist Party,” adding: “I will be opposing this legislation as I do not believe it is what, a state, a government, nor a health service should be about.

“It is telling that the only way that it is being brought forward is through a Private Member’s Bill, which as a process does not allow the proper legislative consideration or scrutiny.

“Our National Health Service across the country needs investment and support. Investment in palliative, end-of-life and social care would be a better focus.

“The legislation itself in my opinion is weak. It purports to have safeguards, but having engaged with disability campaigners, they have said ‘those assurances are not safeguards but qualifying conditions’ and nor are there real protection or detection mechanisms, for coercion, either forced or subtle.

"Doctors will not be required, nor in practice will they be able to, carry out any investigations to determine whether the patient is being coerced or pressured. The assessment is to be solely based on a conversation with the patient and it is unlikely that a patient who is being coerced will say so.

“That being said, I don’t see what circumstances would come about that would see me change my position, and that is to oppose this legislation.”

Meanwhile the Upper Bann DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley also voiced his opposition to what he called “assisted suicide”.

He said: “The introduction of assisted suicide risks creating an implicit obligation for the sick, disabled, or elderly to choose death over life.

"In a society that increasingly emphasises cost-efficiency in healthcare, vulnerable individuals might feel they are a financial or emotional burden to their families or the system. This subtle coercion could make ‘choice’ in assisted suicide illusory, undermining the principle of true autonomy...

“On a moral and ethical level, the practice of deliberately ending a life poses the risk of normalising suicide as an acceptable solution to suffering, which could have far-reaching implications for societal attitudes towards life and death.

"Every life has intrinsic value, and our society should strive to protect and cherish that, especially during its most vulnerable moments. We must prioritise care over convenience, compassion over coercion, and life over death.”

On the other side, Colum Eastwood of the SDLP has come out in favour of the bill.

Reacting to this news, Gavin Walker of the lobby group ‘My Death, My Decision’ said: "This is fantastic news. I speak on behalf of the many patients and family members I have spoken to recently who are managing terminal illnesses when I say that Colum's decision reflects his compassion and an understanding that at the centre of this issue is the patient who has been given the life-restricting diagnosis.

"His assessment that the bill meets all of the high standards we would expect of such a far-reaching decision is indicative of the time he has invested in researching this issue and understanding how the bill reflects the wishes of a vast majority of people across these islands.

"I hope Claire Hanna will join Colum by reaching the same conclusion, and that together with their SDLP Assembly team and us we can begin the political debate that will bring assisted dying legislation to Northern Ireland."