Leading actors Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Ian McKellen are among a group of public figures urging members of the House of Lords to support the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ahead of a decisive debate on Friday.
The letter, published with support from the campaign group Dignity in Dying, was signed by Esther Rantzen, Joanna Lumley, Prue Leith, Harriet Walter, Miriam Margolyes, John Nettles and other well-known figures including designer Jasper Conran, broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby and actress Zoe Wanamaker. It calls for adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live to be allowed to choose to end their lives with medical assistance and says peers should "show the world Britain can lead with empathy and courage." The group said many signatories had "witnessed people we love suffer beyond imagining as they died," and urged peers to "give them the choice and control over their own end of life that every person deserves."
If the Bill becomes law, it would permit terminally ill adults in England and Wales with a prognosis of six months or fewer to receive assistance to die, subject to safeguards. The proposed procedure requires the agreement of two doctors that the decision is voluntary and that eligibility criteria are met, followed by an application to the High Court for approval. Under current UK law, assisting a suicide remains a criminal offence, a reality that has led some terminally ill people to travel abroad to clinics such as Dignitas in Switzerland.
The legislation reached the Commons as a Private Members' Bill sponsored by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater and was passed in June by a majority of 23 MPs. Campaigners including Dame Esther Rantzen, who is living with terminal lung cancer and has been prominent in the push for reform, say the measure reflects public opinion: the letter cites polling showing that three-quarters of the British public support an assisted-dying law. Dignity in Dying said the change would provide choice and avoid prolonged suffering for those with terminal conditions.
Opponents in Parliament and outside groups have raised concerns about what they describe as a "slippery slope" and the potential for vulnerable people to feel pressured to end their lives because they fear becoming a burden. When the Bill passed the Commons, Conservative MP Danny Kruger — whose mother is Dame Prue Leith — said support for the measure was "ebbing away fast" and urged the Lords to scrutinise the bill closely, introduce amendments to make it safer, or reject it entirely.
The House of Lords last held a substantive debate on assisted dying in 2021; that effort was abandoned after the legislation ran out of parliamentary time at committee stage. A similar bill was put before MPs in 2015 but was defeated. Supporters argue the current initiative has been carefully framed with medical and legal safeguards and that many clinicians now recognise a need for change; opponents say the safeguards may not be sufficient to prevent coercion or unintended consequences.
Peers will now consider the Bill’s provisions and proposed safeguards in what campaigners describe as a potentially definitive moment for end-of-life law in Britain. The forthcoming debate and any amendments or votes in the Lords will determine whether the proposal progresses toward becoming law or is delayed or rejected, continuing a long-running national debate about assisted dying and patient autonomy.