Skip to main content
Streeting reverses stance on assisted dying as NHS ‘not good enough’ to provide real choice
Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left) and Health Secretary, Wes Streeting during a visit to the University College London Hospital (UCLH) where they saw how Proton Beam Therapy is used and met the staff who operate it, September 11, 2024

HEALTH secretary Wes Streeting will vote against the assisted dying Bill, raising concerns that palliative care is not good enough for patients to make an informed choice on ending their life.

The Health Secretary told Labour MPs this week that he had reversed his previous stance because of the state of the NHS.

MPs will debate backbencher Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on November 29 and an initial vote is expected that day.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
THE PRIVATEER: Wes Streeting
Features / 11 March 2026
11 March 2026

In the second part of her critique of Wes Streeting’s TenYear Plan for Health, HELEN MERCER looks at the central planks of this privatisation blueprint

Campaigners protest outside Parliament in Westminster, London, ahead of a debate in the House of Commons on assisted dying, April 29, 2024
Opinion / 27 February 2026
27 February 2026

Evidence to peers from medical leaders, patient safety officials and the children’s commissioner has intensified fears that the Bill’s safeguards are inadequate, writes ADAM JAMES POLLOCK

Campaigners opposing the assisted dying Bill gather in Parliament Square, central London, ahead of a debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the House of Commons, June 20, 2025
Assisted Dying Bill / 20 June 2025
20 June 2025

Campaigners vow to keep up fight against Assisted Dying Bill as it clears House of Commons