Parliament and religion are holding back assisted dying legalisation, according to campaigner

30 December 2022, 14:15 | Updated: 30 December 2022, 14:16

Assisted dying campaigner: Parliament and religion holding back law

Phil Newby tells his Tory MP Alicia Kearns his reasoning for pushing legislation in favour of euthanasia is because there is a point at which someone spends more time suffering “than doing anything meaningful or useful”.

Assisted dying campaigner Phil Newby (who has Motor Neurone Disease) believes Parliament and religion are preventing the legalisation of people choosing the right to die.

He spoke to his Conservative MP Alicia Kearns who asked why the UK law on this has not changed.

Mr Newby said: “Parliament isn’t really well organised to deal with moral and ethical issues…separately there's a very vocal and religiously driven minority who don't want the law to change.”

The campaigner was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2014 and believed that while he was “lucky” to have lived for longer than expected, his arms and legs are “no longer working”.

He felt it was important for him to campaign for the law to be changed, saying his future is “quite bleak” and that if he were to attempt assisted suicide in this country, he “would criminalise” his family and be “risking jail terms for them”.

In an exclusive a few years ago, LBC spoke to another man who was also campaigning for the law to be changed on assisted dying.

LBC Investigates: This Man's Incurable Illness Means He Wants To End His Life

Mr Newby also said that his daughters have watched him “deteriorate” to the point where he can “barely breathe”, and are subsequently “really happy to support him” in his fight for assisted dying to be legalised.

He explained to the MP, standing in for James O’Brien, that the High Court refused to make judgement on the law and said it was “a matter for Parliament”.

“I’m in palliative care anyway”, the guest said, explaining there is a point “when life has no value and a huge amount of suffering” with more time spent suffering “than doing anything meaningful or useful”.

“I want to do something affirmative that will shorten my death, will shorten my suffering and will also release, it’s fair to say, the burden of the people around me who are watching me go through this needlessly", he added.