​Legalising state-assisted suicide will not give patients 'choice' - it will instead become an 'expectation', Jim Allister says

​The TUV leader will oppose legislation coming before Westminster on Friday – saying that Labour are allowing their promise of ‘cradle to grave’ care to be thrown out by one of their own MPs.

A private members bill by Kim Leadbeater would see legalised assisted dying for terminally-ill adults with less than six months to live.

The TUV leader has warned of the implications of the law for vulnerable and elderly people.

He told the News Letter: “Should this proposal complete its journey through the parliamentary process, we will have the ludicrous situation where we have charities and government campaigning against suicide and the heartache it brings to families in some cases while in other cases actively facilitating it if not promoting it.

“This issue raises a plethora of moral issues including the prospect of those who are ill, particularly if they are elderly, coming under pressure to end their lives. Such legislation has the potential to change the culture of society so that the elderly see themselves as a burden.

“Should assisted suicide be introduced in the UK I believe there is a very real risk that what was introduced supposedly as providing people with a choice will become an expectation. Tellingly, even co-sponsors of the Bill are unable to tell us how a judgement can be made on whether someone has been coerced into availing of the provisions of the Bill. In light of the significant financial windfall that death brings to some people this is a most serious issue.

“Significantly, those pushing for change have given no thought to the impact it will have on the NHS. As the Health Secretary has observed, ‘I would hate for people to opt for assisted dying because they think they are saving someone somewhere – money, whether that’s relatives of the NHS’. I welcome the fact that he has ordered a review of the costs of the proposals.

“Labour, having given us a cradle to grave NHS, should not allow one of their backbenchers to change this to a policy of cradle to old age.”