Pollster: ‘No longer a public consensus in favour of assisted suicide law’

There is no longer a consensus in favour of legalislation on assisted suicide in Britain, a polling expert has said.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, James Johnson — Co-Founder of pollsters JL Partners — believes the shift in public opinion can be attributed to disquiet over safeguarding deficiencies in MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill.

Conducted between 14 and 22 March, JL Partners canvassed voters’ attitudes towards assisted suicide among 2,048 adults living in England and Wales.

Lack of consent

Support for Baroness Meacher’s assisted suicide Bill five years ago, Johnson recalls, was evident in focus group conversations and research conducted by his own company.

Having previously believed that assisted suicide legislation “had the support of the British public to become law”, he now takes “the opposite view” on Leadbeater’s Bill. He observed: “As the proposal stands in 2026, there is not public consent for its passage.”

Recent polling, he argued, reveals that voters have “deep reservations” when they learn more about the Bill and want “nothing to do with it”.

‘Deficient safeguards’

In his analysis of the findings, Johnson reported that among the 63 per cent of people who currently back assisted suicide in principle, two in three “want to see more safeguards for terminally ill people. Three in four (72 per cent) say it is more important to strictly define the eligibility of assisted dying than to continue with the changes.”

He continued: “Nearly eight in ten – 78 per cent – say someone must explicitly be offered other options like hospice or palliative care before proceeding.”

Referring to all respondents, he added: “By overwhelming margins, people think a vast array of people currently eligible under the Bill should not be: pregnant women (82 points), people with eating disorders (74 points), people with mental health issues (74 points), people expressing suicidal thoughts (74 points), and homeless people (72 points).”

He concluded: “There was once consensus for assisted dying in Britain. As the public now looks at what they deem to be the deficient, much-altered Bill in front of Parliament today, that consensus is no more.”

Leadbeater Bill

Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill, to be debated in the House of Lords on Friday, is expected to fail due to a lack of parliamentary time.

Peers opposing the Bill have rejected accusations of ‘filibustering’ to delay it, arguing that it is so badly drafted that it requires extensive reworking.

The Christian Institute has consistently argued that the more people hear about the threat assisted suicide poses to society, the less they support it.