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Come on MPs, let's finish the job and give people choice on assisted dying
Reach Daily Express | May 14, 2026 3:40 PM CST

You only have to read the deluge of emotive messages from Express readers to know that we are absolutely doing the right thing in calling for assisted dying to be legalised through our Give Us Our Last Rights campaign. People want and deserve the choice to make up their own minds as to how to end their lives when they are terminally ill and experiencing unimaginable pain.

It is bonkers to think that Kim Leadbeater's assisted dying Bill was passed in the Commons last summer. Almost a year on, and its shelf life was ended by quite frankly anti-democratic obstruction in the House of Lords.

Our brilliant health editor Hanna Geissler was quick to say that we should not give up the fight and continue our campaign for the sake of people like the amazing Dame Esther Rantzen, her daughter Rebecca Wilcox and the campaign group Dignity in Dying. A quick chat between Hanna and Express associate editor and columnist Frances Millar provided a great idea to keep the pressure up and finish what we started.

Their plan was to ask our readers, via a plea from Dame Esther, to send in their heartbreaking accounts explaining why a change in the law is needed. Over a series of days, your letters were collated and turned into an amazing four-page supplement by associate editor Matt Nixson, which was published in the newspaper to coincide with Wednesday's King's Speech.

Accounts shared with Dame Esther, 85, in emails and letters include a woman who says her husband was "tortured to his final breath" as oesophageal cancer "ate him alive", and a man whose wife begged for help to die while suffering with pancreatic cancer.

Thanking readers who wrote in, Dame Esther, who has terminal lung cancer, said: "Today, we are reminding our elected representatives of the strength of public support by publishing some of the personal stories shared by Express readers. We have received scores of messages, showing how so many people across the country are affected by the current messy and cruel law. Let's hope MPs are listening."

And this is where it gets really clever. We are sending the supplement to each and every one of our 650 MPs, asking them to reintroduce the Bill in the next parliamentary session, which will begin after the King's Speech.

It means the landmark legislation could soon be reintroduced by an MP drawn in the private member's bill ballot. The ballot sees MPs drawn according to chance and gives backbenchers an opportunity to propose new laws. We hope our mailshot to them will convince at least one of them to reintroduce the Bill.

If the legislation is brought back to Parliament and the Commons votes it through for a second time, then the Lords will not be able to block it again.

So on Tuesday, I spent a couple of hours with my Express newsroom colleagues, rolling up my sleeves to help put together the package for each of our MPs.

Every envelope contained a letter from me, as editor of the Express, to each MP, asking them to consider reintroducing the Bill. It also obviously included the four-page newspaper pullout with those emotive reader letters and another plea to them from Dame Esther.

It is at times like these in a newsroom where the team really comes together. Everyone pitches in to help get the job done. For a few minutes, the busy news agenda had to take a bit of a back seat as the team packaged up each envelope addressed to each MP.

Before long, we had amassed a mega pile of envelopes, which were carted off to our post room for dispatch to the Commons. Those bundles should be dropping in MPs' mailboxes by the end of this week. Now all we need is for them to read them and back the cause.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of campaign group Dignity in Dying, has summed up the situation perfectly.

She said: "At this crucial moment in the campaign, MPs must take the time to read and reflect on these testimonies. These stories re-humanise the debate. They remind Parliament that this issue is not theoretical - it is about people facing traumatic deaths, families forced into impossible situations, and loved ones living with the consequences for years afterwards.

"The courage shown by those who have shared their experiences should not be ignored. Parliament began an important conversation on assisted dying, and the public expectation is clear: MPs have unfinished business on the Leadbeater bill.

"This is about humanity but it's also about democracy - and it affects us all. The Bill must be brought back in the next session so that Parliament can finish the job and decide on giving dying people the choice they deserve."

Sarah is right. Come on, our elected representatives. You have already passed this legislation once.

Now let's finish the job and give people the choice.


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