Lord Cameron is the first former prime minister to come out in support of the bill. He says he asked himself four questions when working out if he could give his support to the legislation – adding that he will vote for it if it reaches the Lords.
David Cameron has become the first former prime minister to come out in support of the assisted dying bill.
The former Tory leader has written a piece in The Times explaining his decision, and saying that in the past he opposed moves to introduce measures allowing terminally ill people to end their own life.
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton wrote: “My main concern and reason for not supporting proposals before now has always been the worry that vulnerable people could be pressured into hastening their own deaths.”
However, he says he has now been reassured by those arguing in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater will put the bill forward for a vote in the House of Commons on Friday.
“As campaigners have convincingly argued, this proposal is not about ending life, it is about shortening death,” Lord Cameron wrote in The Times.
His intervention comes after Gordon Brown, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss all came out in opposition to the bill.
None of Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair or Rishi Sunak have made their positions public.
In his article, Lord Cameron says he asked four questions before reaching his conclusion – whether there are sufficient safeguards to protect vulnerable people, whether this is a “slippery slope”, whether it would put unnecessary pressure on the NHS and will the proposed law lead to a meaningful reduction in human suffering?
On the first point, Lord Cameron says protections like two doctors needing to give approval as well as a judge, alongside the requirement of self-administration of the fatal drugs, are enough.
He also highlights the criminalisation of coercing someone to end their own life.
On whether the bill is a “slippery slope” – as Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed – he says such an argument can be made for any social change.
The former prime minister writes that the bill is in “a sensible and practical resting place for public policy in this area”, and is explicitly only for the terminally ill, rather than those with mental illnesses and disabilities.
On whether it put undue pressure on the NHS, Lord Cameron dismisses the argument.
“It’s not just that the bill would be applicable in only a very small number of cases, it is that the NHS exists to serve patients and the public, not the other way around,” he writes.
On the fourth point – whether it will reduce human suffering – the former prime minister says: “I find it very hard to argue that the answer to this question is anything other than ‘yes’.”
Lord Cameron adds that, as a member of the House of Lords, he gets letters from terminally ill patients and that poses questions.
He wrote: “When we know that there’s no cure, when we know death is imminent, when patients enter a final and acute period of agony, then surely, if they can prevent it and – crucially – want to prevent it, we should let them make that choice.