A cross-party group of 60 MPs have urged parliament — and the government — to increase funding for palliative care in the light of the vote on assisted suicide last week This letter was originally published in The Times and can be accessed here.
Sir, After informed, compassionate, reasoned and detailed contributions from all sides and all parties, more than half the House of Commons last week voted to reject the proposal that doctors should be licensed to help their patients kill themselves. This followed similar rejections in the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly in the past year. Many MPs stated that instead the way forward should be to improve the quality and availability of palliative care.
It is therefore now right that parliament, and the government, show the same rigour and compassion in seeking the best available care and support for those facing the challenge of terminal or chronic illness, and that substantially increased funds are provided to support end-of-life care and further research in this area, building on the huge progress made in this country on end-of-life care over recent decades. It is the least that we, as a society, owe to our elderly and vulnerable. In an aging population this is an urgent and essential responsibility.
Rt Hon Frank Field MP
Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP
Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP
Rt Hon David Lammy MP
Rt Hon Gisela Stuart MP
Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP
Sir David Amess MP
Sir William Cash MP
Sir Roger Gale MP
Sir Edward Leigh MP
Stuart Andrew MP
Caroline Ansell MP
Sir Henry Bellingham MP
Bob Blackman MP
Lady Victoria Borwick MP
Graham Brady MP
Lyn Brown MP
Fiona Bruce MP
Conor Burns MP
Simon Burns MP
David Burrowes MP
Gregory Campbell MP
Maria Caulfield MP
Dr Thérèse Coffey MP
Rosie Cooper MP
Neil Coyle MP
Jim Cunningham MP
Nigel Dodds MP
Nadine Dorries MP
Steve Double MP
Flick Drummond MP
Rob Flello MP
John Glen MP
Sir Alan Haselhurst MP
Susan Elan Jones MP
Mike Kane MP
Seema Kennedy MP
Jeremy Lefroy MP
Tim Loughton MP
Paul Maynard MP
Siobhain McDonagh MP
Mark Menzies MP
Bob Neill MP
Ian Paisley MP
Neil Parish MP
Mark Pawsey MP
John Pugh MP
Yasmin Qureshi MP
Jonathan Reynolds MP
Gavin Robinson MP
Jim Shannon MP
Virendra Sharma MP
Gavin Shuker MP
Caroline Spelman MP
Gary Streeter MP
Kelly Tolhurst MP
Michael Tomlinson MP
Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP
Valerie Vaz MP
Sammy Wilson MP
