Can a change be expected? Will the UK Law Change?

SUMMARY

In March 2026 the Scottish Parliament voted, by 69 votes to 57, to defeat a Bill that would have legalised Assisted Dying. That was the final stage of the Bill. Its loss means that, realistically, Assisted Dying will remain illegal in Scotland at least until 2031

In England and Wales, Kim Leadbeater’s Bill from 2025 failed when it ran out of time in the House of Lords. It had passed through the Commons by 314 votes to 291 and has now been re-introduced by Lauren Edwards MP. Its first big vote in the Commons will be on the 11th September 2026. It is likely to generate less support than was the case last year but its supporters are keen for it to pass – and seem confident that it will. It will be more difficult for the House of Lords to block it for a second time.

The original England and Wales Bill, if passed, would have allowed a terminal dose of medication to be prescribed for someone who was incurably ill with less than six months to live. They would have needed to be over eighteen and a citizen of the UK. The decision would have to have been their own. It would have needed to be supported by two doctors. The patient’s decision and the verdicts of the two doctors would then also have required agreement by a “panel of experts”. As originally drafted, the Bill made no reference to such a panel. Instead, each decision had to be signed off by a High Court Judge. This provision was changed during the Committee Stage because such close involvement of Judges would have been both impractical and financially expensive.

It would no longer have been an offence for anyone to help the patient through the process. Because no offence would have been committed, the Forfeiture Rule would not apply. The criteria for acceptance meant that patients with Parkinsons, any form of Dementia, Lewy Bodies or Motor Neurone Disease would still not have been able to receive help in the form of an Assisted Death.

THE SITUATION NOW

There is unlikely to be a successful attempt to re-introduce the Bill until after the next General Election. In England and Wales that need not be until June 2029. Even then, it is unlikely that a Bill could achieve success through the customary route of a Private Member’s Bill. The difficulties faced by Kim Leadbeater’s recent Bill should at least have been sufficient to ensure that. The main hope must be that one or more of the political parties will make such a Bill a core plank of their own election platform. It could then be included in their manifesto and, consequently, enshrined in the law if that party was successful in forming a Government after the Election. At the moment, such inclusion seems possible in the case of the Liberal Democrats and possibly the Greens. It is unlikely in any of the others.

In the meantime, however, there are two other minor changes that could be considered. Both could still make progress through the Private Member’s route.

The first would simply de-criminalise the relatives who have accompanied AVD (Assisted Voluntary Death) recipients to Switzerland. Such a Bill would be relatively simple. It was, in fact, on the point of being introduced in 2019 but its progress was stopped by Dignity in Dying.

The second would be to clarify the law concerning the Forfeiture Rule. At the moment, many Solicitors’ firms will not accept instructions to act as an executor of a Will if the deceased has received an AVD in Switzerland. They are worried that beneficiaries might cite the rule in order to challenge the Will. This could leave all executors with liabilities they do not want.

It is also worth pointing out that simply accompanying a relative to Switzerland need not be interpreted as providing “assistance”. If the VAD recipient had made all their own arrangements, had been able to travel totally independently and had clearly wanted to go then it would be difficult for any Court to decide that real “assistance” had been given.