Euthanasia At Stake in British Elections

Source: FSSPX News

The Palace of Westminster, seat of the UK Parliament

Although it is less advanced in the United Kingdom than in France, the debate on euthanasia is gaining intensity as the months go by, while the July 4, 2024, election approaches, at the close of which a new Prime Minister could be appointed by King Charles III.

Assisted death—as it is now called in England, Le Monde points out—is punishable “with penalties of up to 14 years in prison,” Care notes. But the most recent directives, issued in 2010 by the judicial authority, encourage leniency when the act is carried out through “compassion.”

As in France, death in white gloves has its “influencers,” sufficiently present in the British media to attempt to sway public opinion: thus Le Monde notes, “[Dame] Esther Rantzen, 83 years old, a well-known television figure across the Channel, broadcaster at the BBC for more than 20 years, announces that she is suffering from advanced stage lung cancer,” and pleads for the legalization of euthanasia.

On the other side, “the paralympic champion Tanni Grey-Thompson, now a member of the House of Lords,” denounces a false “right to die” which hides a “duty to die,” “exerted consciously or not over handicapped or seriously ill people, pressured to end it all in order not to become a supposed burden on society any longer,” Le Monde notes. She and others call instead for “means of palliative care.”

But “the state of public opinion has changed in the British Isles: according to an Ipsos poll dating from 2023, two thirds of people asked in the United Kingdom said they were in favor of assisted death for terminally ill adults who ask for it,” the same newspaper reports. In this context, the two main parties—the Conservatives (Tories) and the Workers (Labour Party)—are treading carefully.

The outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is struggling in the polls, is now declaring himself “not opposed” to a change in the law on euthanasia, assuring that, if reelected, he would organize a vote on the decriminalization of assisted suicide in order to regulate the practice, Care notes.

His main opponent, Labour candidate Keir Starmer, is attempting to smooth out his image in order to become less divisive for conservatives: even if he does not hide his desire to legalize euthanasia, the Labour party leader “promised that he would allow his representatives to vote freely by conscience,” according to Le Monde.

The same newspaper recalls that “in 2015, Mr. Starmer had voted in favor of assisted death when a first bill submitted by Baroness Molly Meacher, a member of the House of Lords, had been voted on in Parliament. The text had been rejected by a large majority.” 

A third man has entered the race to 10 Downing Street: Brexiter Nigel Farage, now leader of the Reform UK party, is shaking up the electoral campaign in preparation for the general elections on July 4. “The conservatives have sown such chaos!” he accuses.

While some polls put him in second place behind the Labour candidate, Nigel Farage, even if he is discreet on questions of the right to life, he is far from making the liberalization of euthanasia the heart of his campaign.

For their part, the Catholic bishops of the United Kingdom are calling on voters to take this issue into account when they exercise their right to vote on July 4, 2024: in a Statement on the General Election from Bishop Mark Davies published by the Diocese of Shrewsbury, the Bishop insists: “I write to draw your attention to one of these choices in 2024 which involves euthanasia [...] At least one party leader has indicated that he will proactively make parliamentary time available for a change in the law to be considered that will remove many of the legal safeguards which have long protected some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Amid the many questions of policy being considered in the weeks ahead, this must surely be a central issue. [...]

“I appeal to Catholics to mobilise. Don’t be persuaded by emotional pitches in the media. Speak out against this sinister proposal.”  He recalls that “Death is not pain relief; it is the transition to a glorious new life in heaven with God our Father and Creator.” At least, if one dies in the state of grace.