UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on July 29 that debate around the introduction of assisted suicide should be put on hold until palliative and social care programs in the country are properly funded.
“I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point about those issues – personally, I think there’s something that needs to happen first,” Burnham told reporters.
“That is the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care,” said the Prime Minister, who was speaking with reporters after a speech at a London care home on July 29.
During his remarks, Burnham vowed to repair his country’s social care system – the day-to-day assistance network for the elderly and persons with disabilities, chronic illness, and other vulnerabilities – saying politicians’ failure to address systemic problems is a “major dereliction of public duty.”
“I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in a context of people not receiving that care and having the peace of mind about that care,” Burnham told reporters, “a context where palliative and social care remains poorly funded.”
“That’s the position I will stick to,” Burnham said.
Labour MP Lauren Edwards reintroduced an assisted suicide bill to the UK parliament, which will have its second reading on September 11.
The bill has nearly the exact same wording as Kim Leadbeater’s bill, which recently fell after narrowly passing the House of Commons before running out of time in the House of Lords.
Burnham’s position is a departure from his predecessor, Keir Starmer, who supported Leadbeater’s bill.
It is also something of a departure from statements Burnham – a Catholic – had made in 2024, when the Leadbeater measure was before the House of Commons.
Burnham in that year told BBC Manchester he would “probably vote in favour of [the Leadbeater bill,” if he were in the House.
It is also a major setback for assisted suicide proponents in the UK, who had relied on the former Prime Minister’s support.
Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool welcomed the news.
“It is highly significant that the Prime Minister has confirmed his position about the need for proper palliative and social care ahead of the Second Reading,” said Sherrington, who heads the pro-life advocacy efforts of the Catholic bishops in England and Wales.
Sherrington stressed the Church’s long-standing opposition to assisted suicide and support for palliative and end of life care “as an appropriate focus to uphold the dignity of all at the end of life.”
