David Burton-Sampson

This is my first time speaking to the Bill, so I want to start by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) for having the courage to bring forward such a significant piece of legislation. I thank all hon. and right hon. Members who have been part of the debate and who have worked on the Bill so far for their thoughtful contributions. Until this week, I have remained open-minded and undecided on this Bill. My starting point in the debate was my own personal views. I am personally against assisted dying, because of my Christian faith, and for selfish reasons also, as I am a little bit scared of losing people and being there at the end of people’s lives. But, like all of us, I have received a significant amount of communication on this matter, so I, too, decided to launch my own local survey, in which I asked my constituents for their stance on the Bill: for, against or undecided. What became increasingly clear is that people are split on this issue. Fifty-five per cent of people were against, 42% were for and the remainder were unsure. That “for” figure is not insignificant. I promised my very close friend Emma that I would share the story of her mum Cheryl, who was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 cancer just over two and a half years ago. Emma wanted to cherish every last minute of her mum’s life, and she was outstanding at creating those special memories with her in the last year or so. Emma was against assisted dying at the time and wanted to do everything to keep her mum with her for as long as possible. Cheryl sadly died last year. Emma told me: “I think if something like this was legal it would stop people having to go through what mam went through on those last few weeks of her life. She could have had a dignified, pain free death. Instead, all her dignity was stripped from her and she was in so much pain, despite the strong pain meds. I will never be able to forget the screams. I hope this does get passed to give people like mam the choice and to be in control.” Like, I am sure, everyone else, I have received similar comments from constituents about watching relatives fade away in pain and agony, suffering a lingering death and begging for it to stop.