Assisted dying set to become legal in this part of the British Isles after ‘historic step’

The is set to become the first place in the British Isles to legalise after a bill seeking to give terminally ill people greater choice cleared another crucial stage.

Emotional campaigners embraced outside Tynwald on Tuesday after the elected House of Keys approved the majority of amendments proposed by the parliament’s upper house, the Legislative Council.

The Bill will now return to the upper house next month, when supporters hope members will accept the final changes and vote to send it for Royal Assent.

If they do, assisted dying could be available to terminally ill Manx residents from 2027. And the move would put pressure on MPs in Westminster to agree a route forward for the introduction of assisted dying in and to avoid creating a postcode lottery.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said the latest milestone was “a defining win for common sense and compassion”.

She added: “I congratulate parliamentarians for not only listening to the experiences and support from a majority of Manx people, but for their commitment to a detailed and comprehensive legislative process.

“This is a historic moment for the island and I pay special tribute to local people who have led these efforts to make sure no-one else has to choose between facing painful deaths or taking matters into their own hands.”

Trevor Moore, board member of My Death, My Decision, said: “The members of the House of Keys are to be applauded for taking this historic step.

“They have engaged positively with the debate, with arguments put forward from all sides in good faith. We hope that Westminster will pay attention to this, and follow in their footsteps.”

Linda Broomesmith, 66, was among those who joined a small morning rally ahead of the debate. Campaigners lined the road in front of the parliament building with placards and banners, earning frequent honks of support from passing vehicles.

Linda said she was there “to support personal choice” in memory of her parents: “My father died of lung cancer at the good old age of 88. He wanted to be able to say goodbye under his own terms, and he was not allowed to do that.

“My mother as well, she was 96, a lovely long life. She had spent all of her life in her own home until the very last time, but wanted to say goodbye and obviously couldn’t.

“For the last six months she had to go into a nursing home, but all of the time she was there she was literally saying, ‘I’ve had a lovely life, this is the end and I want to go on my own terms’. That wasn’t allowed.”

The Isle of Man is home to around 80,000 people and claims to have the world’s oldest continuous parliament. It was the first nation in the world to give some women the right to vote in 1881, 37 years before Westminster followed suit.

Former member of the House of Keys Martyn Perkins, 69, also attended the rally after supporting efforts to change the law for many years. He said the Isle of Man was “a very special place and we punch well above our weight.”

“The fact that we are on the cusp of getting assisted dying through is a big step forward,” he added. “We’re a 1,000-year old parliament and it shows that we are progressive in these things, we believe in personal choice, personal freedom.

“The Bill is very good because it caters for the people that don’t want to get involved, it’s got good safeguarding and I believe that it gives people personal choice at the end of life, when they need it.”

Introduced by Dr Alex Allinson, a GP and member of the House of Keys, the Bill seeks to legalise assisted dying for people who are terminally ill and expected to die within one year.

It had already passed several major hurdles, including debates during which the Legislative Council put forward 26 amendments.

Tuesday’s hour-long debate saw Members of the House of Keys agree with all but three. One key change they rejected was a move to cut the residency period for eligibility from five years to one year.

Dr Allinson argued that the amendment was at odds with the requirement for patients to have 12 months or less to live, and that a longer period would put to rest concerns about people moving to the island from the UK with the intention of seeking an assisted death.

Speaking after the debate, Dr Allinson told the Express it marked “another step forward for the assisted dying Bill on the Isle of Man”.

He added: “Because we haven’t supported three of those amendments, the Legislative Council when they next sit on March 11 will need to consider those, and see whether they agree with that rejection or not.

“I think, during the sittings today, we made quite clear why we would not be supporting those, and hopefully they can bear that in mind and reach their deliberations, and agree with the decisions made by the elected House of Keys, and then send the Bill off to Royal Assent.”

There is “always the difference of opinions” within a democracy, the doctor added, but if necessary a convention could be held to reach a consensus and stop the Bill ping-ponging between the two houses.

Dr Allinson said he felt honoured to have built on more than two decades of work by past parliamentarians in bringing forward his Bill. And he admitted the process had taken an emotional toll.

He added: “This is not a race. We have been talking about it on the Isle of Man for the last 20 years, but I think there has been across the British Isles a change in public opinion, a real synergy of elected parliamentarians representing the views of the people who put us here and looking at changing the law to allow for greater dignity and autonomy from people who are facing a terminal illness and imminent death.

“I think it’s very important for the Isle of Man community that their voice is heard within their parliament.”

The Daily Express crusade backs efforts to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people nearing the end of life.

A similar bill introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is currently undergoing scrutiny by a committee and is due to face its next Commons vote in April.