New British PM Andy Burnham declines to give stance on assisted dying

LONDON – New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on July 29 declined to say whether he would support fresh attempts to legalise assisted dying, saying social care reform was needed first.

Burnham relaunched his years-long bid to create a national service to tackle Britain’s care crisis for the elderly and vulnerable, in a speech on July 29 at a London care association.

But asked by a reporter “what’s your position on assisted dying?”, Burnham replied: “Personally, I think there’s something that needs to happen first.

“That is the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care.

“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.”

His comments are the first time he has addressed the sensitive issue since taking power less than two weeks ago.

A Bill to legalise assisted dying failed in Parliament in April after getting bogged down in Britain’s unelected Upper House.

When he was last an MP, Burnham, who grew up as a Catholic, abstained when Parliament voted on the issue in 2015.

Asked in 2024 about the most recent attempt to bring it in, he said he thought he would vote “in favour of the principle” if he had still been in Parliament.

But he told BBC radio that “in terms of the implementation of it, I would say there should be a kind of requirement that the hospices of this country get properly funded and sorted out before that law change comes in”.

Campaigners in April vowed to fight on after their Bill failed to become law despite making it through the Lower House of Parliament.

Under the proposed law adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live would have been able to apply for an assisted death with the approval of two doctors and an expert panel.

Another attempt to pass the legislation will be launched when Parliament returns in September.

Lawmaker Lauren Edwards of the ruling Labour Party will reintroduce the same Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill that petered out in Parliament earlier in 2026.

As before, the Bill will be presented as a so-called private members Bill, meaning that it is not sponsored by the government.

Lawmakers will be free to vote according to their conscience and not along party lines. AFP