Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Third Reading

On Friday 16 May 2025, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will return to the House of Commons for MPs to consider amendments and vote on it at Third Reading. If the bill passes at Third Reading, it will progress through Parliament to the House of Lords. It is worth noting that the review and debate of the amendments could take longer than the hours available, in which case debate will likely continue on the next Friday available for the consideration of Private Members' Bills.

We don’t yet know what amendments we will be asked to consider; however, I am in no doubt that getting this decision right is of crucial importance, and I do not underestimate this responsibility.

When I make my final decision about whether or not to support the amendments to the Bill, and the Bill as a whole at Third Reading, it will be after very careful consideration.

Progress of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill:

• In November 2024, the majority of MPs voted to agree the principle of the bill.
• The next stage was for a committee of 23 MPs, some opponents of the bill and others who supported it, to scrutinise the proposed legislation clause by clause and consider evidence from expert witnesses.
• The bill will now come back to the Commons for Report Stage – when further amendments can be made – and Third Reading – when MPs vote on the bill for the final time before it goes to the House of Lords.

Although we don’t yet know what amendments are being proposed to be voted on following the committee’s scrutiny, we do know that the committee considered 600 amendments and accepted around a quarter of them.

The many hundreds of letters and emails I’ve received on this subject have been deeply moving and opinions on both sides are sincerely held.

Personally, I agree with the principle of the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, but have been clear that in order for me to support it at Third Reading I need to be satisfied that:

• There are sufficient safeguards in place to prevent the coercion of terminally ill patients.
• Medical professionals who do not wish to assist in a patient’s death are free to decline.
• Terminally ill patients can trust that they will receive the palliative care they need.

 
As I did at the Second Reading, when the Bill comes out of Committee and returns for Friday’s Third Reading, I will be acting in what I believe, after serious consideration, to be in the best interests of terminally ill people, their loved ones and medical professionals.

My best wishes,

Zöe

Zöe Franklin, Liberal Democrat MP for Guildford Constituency.