Responding to news a new parliamentary inquiry will be held on assisted suicide next year, a spokesman for the Better Way campaign said:
“It’s hard to see why this inquiry is necessary when you consider that ‘assisted dying’ proposals have been thoroughly scrutinised and rejected by parliamentarians several times now, and as recently as 2015. In past years, MPs have been persuaded by real-world evidence that assisted suicide is inherently unsafe and poses many risks to society and voted to keep current laws. Disabled people have been some of the most outspoken opponents of regressive change and have raised the alarm constantly. This latest move is really the result of lobbying by controversial activists.
“The way this issue is raised again and again suggests, strongly, that proponents of ‘assisted dying’, and their political allies, don’t really care about evidence or disabled people’s fears about how it would affect their lives. These people intend to keep forcing the issue until they get the answer they want, regardless of the consequences. That is dogmatism, and it should concern politicians. I would appeal to fair-minded parliamentarians in every party to truly listen to disabled people and other experts who have spent years warning against assisted suicide.”