Third of public back assisted dying law only with more palliative funding – poll

Six in 10 people support the return of the assisted dying Bill to Parliament, but a third of the public feel the law should only be changed if there is more funding for end-of-life care alongside it, according to new polling.Support for assisted dying being legalised has remained relatively stable since the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was first introduced to Parliament in late 2024, the Ipsos polling for the Press Association found.The Bill is back in the House of Commons on Friday, when MPs will debate and vote on it after it ran out of time in Parliament’s last session, having effectively been talked out in the Lords.Of 1,133 people aged 16-75 surveyed at the end of August, 61% said they supported the reintroduction of the Bill, which is being brought by Labour MP Lauren Edwards who has taken it over from her party colleague Kim Leadbeater.Fourteen per cent said they opposed the return of the Bill while the same proportion said they did not support or oppose it. The rest said they did not know or preferred not to say.Older people – aged 55-75 – were most likely to support the Bill’s return (67%).This compared with 63% of 35-54 year-olds and just over half (52%) of people aged 16 to 34.Prime Minister Andy Burnham has already confirmed he will abstain from the vote, so as not to “unduly influence the debate”.Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will not vote either way on the Bill so as not to influence others (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA)PA WireHowever, giving some insight into his view on the issue shortly after becoming PM in July, he said he believed the funding of palliative care needs to be fixed before consideration can be given to legalising assisted dying.Palliative care is described by the NHS as the management of pain and other distressing symptoms which should be available as soon as someone first learns they have a life-limiting or terminal illness, while end-of-life care is a form of palliative care given when someone is close to death.The new polling found 34% of people said assisting dying should be made legal but only if it is accompanied by additional investment in state-funded end-of-life care.Meanwhile, three in 10 (30%) said they agreed with the statement that assisted dying should be made legal, even without extra investment in this kind of care.One in 10 people said they opposed legalising assisted dying and said there should be more funding for end-of-life care, while 7% said assisted dying should not be legalised even if it was accompanied by further investment in such care.MP Lauren Edwards is bringing the Bill back to Parliament (Aaron Chown/PA)PA WireSupport for the principle of assisted dying, where it is legal for a doctor to prescribe life-ending medication to a consenting terminally ill adult was at 68% when the latest polling was done, up slightly from 66% in October 2024.Read MoreOpposition remained at 16% across that two-year period.The Government has a neutral position on the Bill and MPs will vote according to their consciences, rather than along party lines.