Fewer than 10% of UK voters view euthanasia as a priority issue: new poll

(LifeSiteNews) — According to an exclusive June 2 report from the Daily Mail, fewer than one-in-10 UK voters consider assisted suicide a priority for their Member of Parliament. The mega-poll of over 10,000 people comes as a blow to suicide activists, who are desperately trying to resurrect Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s euthanasia bill that died in the House of Lords on April 24 after facing over 1,000 amendments and running out of time.

That same month, suicide campaigners confirmed that they were planning to enlist 200 MPs to attempt to bring the failed legislation back as a Private Member’s Bill. Lord Charlie Falconer, the most prominent and vociferous supporter of Leadbeater’s bill in the House of Lords, supported the effort. Once the PMB was brought forward, the Parliaments Acts could be used to bypass the House of Lords entirely and pass it into law.

“Taking the unprecedented route of using the Parliament Acts to bypass House of Lords’ scrutiny of a Private Members’ Bill would be politically explosive and divisive, setting a precedent that may worry many MPs,” Right to Life UK reported. “It would be the first time ever that the Parliament Acts would be used for a Private Members’ Bill.”

Suicide campaigners had justified taking radical measures to ram the euthanasia bill through on the premise that voters were also desperate for it to pass; the new poll, however, reveals just the opposite. The poll, which is the largest since the bill was introduced in October 2024 and was conducted by Whitestone Insight, found that only 7% want assisted suicide to be among their local MPs top three priorities in the next year.

“The MRP poll, a constituency-level modelling technique, also revealed widespread opposition to any bid to force through already-failed legislation,” the Daily Mail reported.

It showed a majority in every single British constituency do not want their MP to support a law pushed through Parliament without full scrutiny by both Houses. Across the country, only 8% of the public supported pushing a non-manifesto commitment into law without approval and full scrutiny by both Houses. Of those who took a position, 88% of the public were opposed to such action, the poll found.

“Even in Spen Valley, the constituency of the sponsor of the assisted suicide Bill, Kim Leadbeater, 61% of people agreed that they would not want their MP to support a law pushed through without approval from the House of Lords and the House of Commons without full scrutiny,” Right to Life UK noted. “Only 8% of people disagreed.” In fact, a mere 7% of respondents in the mega-poll cited assisted suicide as a priority — while every constituency “agreed that Parliament should prioritize reducing NHS waiting lists and improving social care before considering whether to legalize assisted suicide.”

“This polling clearly shows that the public does not want assisted dying introduced via the back door using the Parliament Act,” stated Fiona Mackenzie, CEO of The Other Half, the think tank that sponsored the poll. “In every constituency in Great Britain, voters say they do not want their MP to back a law pushed through without the approval of both Houses of Parliament. This should be a warning to any MP thinking of giving in to pressure from assisted dying campaigners to use the Private Members’ Bill ballot to revive Kim Leadbeater’s Bill.”

Andrew Hawkins of the Whitestone Institute concurred. “Large national polls can sometimes hide big local differences, which is why MRP is useful,” he told the Daily Mail. “But what is striking here is how consistent the picture is across Great Britain. In every constituency we modelled, more voters said they would not want their MP to support a law being pushed through without sufficient scrutiny, or the approval of both Houses, than said the opposite.”

It appears that MPs have already heeded the warning. On June 3, the Guardian reported that MPs, some after consulting constituents, now do not expect the bill to be resurrected. “Prominent backers of assisted dying, including the former cabinet ministers Louise Haigh, Ian Murray and Jeremy Hunt, have told constituents they do not expect the bill to be resurrected using the Parliament Acts,” the Guardian noted.

In other words, the public debate about the impact of legalizing assisted suicide actually worked, and the Overton window moved. UK voters have been informed of the dangers and are much less supportive of legalization now than they were when Leadbeater’s bill was introduced — which is precisely why suicide campaigners are so eager to push it through now. It appears that they have failed. Thank God.