// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Disability campaigners call for Burnham to delay assisted dying bill
Actor Liz Carr is among those to have signed the open letter to MPs
Disabled and terminally ill campaigners have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging him to reform social and palliative care before assisted dying legislation is introduced in England and Wales.
The Assist Us To Live group says people are currently being "failed by society" and "introducing assisted dying in these circumstances will put sick and disabled people's lives at risk".
Burnham believes the funding of palliative and social care should be "fixed" before assisted dying is considered. The government is likely to remain officially neutral, but the PM's remarks suggest he personally will not back the bill proposed by Labour MP Lauren Edwards.
Bill supporters argue improving care services and giving terminally ill people "autonomy" over their final weeks must go hand in hand.
The proposed law - known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - would allow people over the age of 18 who were expected to die within six months to be given help to end their own life, subject to certain safeguards.
Having a disability in and of itself does not mean you would be able to seek help to end your life.
This is the second time a backbench bill like this is going through the House of Commons.
MPs voted in favour of a bill proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbetter in 2025, but it was not passed by the House of Lords after an unprecedented number of suggested amendments delayed its progress until it ran out of time in April this year.
Edwards reintroduced an identical bill in June in order to "finish the job" started by Leadbeater. It is due to be debated in the Commons on 11 September.