The team at the BSG Strategy Meeting in Winchester, led by BSG President Dr Harriet Gordon 👇 ➡️ Looking to set the direction of the Society for the next 5 years!

Congratulations to Prof Debbie Shawcross, who has been selected as a WGO 2026 Trailblazer Award recipient! 👏 🏆 This award honours women who are not only leaders in their field, but are also paving new paths for future generations of women in medicine: ow.ly/LKxZ50ZPJp2

It still feels unreal. Almost two years since Kim Leadbeater first announced she was going to bring forward her assisted suicide bill, almost two years since we started organising the lawyers' letter to the Observer where serious concerns over the bill were first expressed, and it's finally been defeated. Doubtless supporters will try again, but the appetite is clearly not there in Parliament, the Senedd, the Scottish Parliament and across the country as a whole for such reckless social change. Yesterday was a real victory for society's most vulnerable. This bill, under the pretence of alleviating suffering, would have endangered those most at risk of coercion, social pressure and their own dark thoughts because of their race, sex, social standing, disability or mental ill health. Canada, Oregon, and other jurisdictions show the ineluctable propensity of assisted suicide laws to expand further. I'm certain that the Terminally Ill Adults Bill would have snowballed into a capacious assisted suicide and euthanasia regime in this country as well. It was right for the Commons to think again, to heed the House of Lords' concerns, and to decide not to cross that moral Rubicon. I'm glad to wake up this morning in a country where the spectre of a state that assists terminally ill people to end their own lives has been banished. But now it's time for us all to commit to the state truly assisting terminally ill people to die with dignity and peace. Excellent, universal palliative care is sorely needed in this country. If advocates of yesterday's reckless bill were to put even half the same effort into campaigning for true dignity in dying, the political pressure to improve palliative care would be unstoppable. It's time for us all to commit to that project.

I first tentatively wrote about fact I couldn't support assisted dying in Jan 2023, when I had no idea that this issue was going to dominate politics 2025-26. The more I've learned about it, the firmer my opposition has become, because of its clear risks for vulnerable people.

1/2 I opened my remarks today by mentioning my beloved daughter, Maria. This Bill stirred so many concerns in me when it comes to people like Maria, particularly those who may not be as lucky as she was to have the support of trusted loved ones to protect them.

Thank you to MPs who listened to concerns about the unsafe assisted dying bill. This was a victory for expertise and science over fear and for protecting the most vulnerable @EmmaLewell @soniasodha @nmdacosta @marykfoy

If there was one speech which swung it, it was this from @AshleyDalton_MP, who has stage 4 cancer and spoke so powerfully about how the bill failed the people it purported to serve:

I hope we can all now come together to radically improve end of life care

The Bill that was brought to us today was not safe.  If it had passed, vulnerable people would have been at very real risk of coercion into assisted dying or out of fear of being a burden.   We need to prioritise ensuring equal access to our world class palliative care.

Don't understand Jess Phillips' arguments. She's saying women will be coerced into death today, without this law. Yes. But the point is this law will make it EASIER for men to coerce women into suicide. That's what many of us who understand coercive control are so worried about.

So very glad to hear @zubirahmed make the point of how difficult it is for doctors to identify where coercive control is present in the Commons assisted dying debate.

Thank you for your courage and selflessness in speaking up for the vulnerable @AshleyDalton_MP 💙

Fifteen safeguards rejected from the assisted dying bill:

Tomorrow I will vote against the Assisted Dying Bill. After 18 years in children’s services and safeguarding, I know how easily coercion can go unseen. Nobody should choose death because they feel a burden or cannot get the care they need. My statement👇🏽preetkaurgill.co.uk/post/sta…

Please not this Bill, and not in our NHS - I wrote for Parliament News on why many of us think this Assisted Dying Bill is very bad law. parliamentnews.co.uk/please-…

A phenomenal and brave speech from @AshleyDalton_MP on assisted dying. Speaking with such moral courage and clarity. I hope her colleagues listen.

I honestly don't see how any responsible MP could look at the following and think "but let's vote this bill through anyway and let's do it in a way that cuts off any Lords scrutiny via the Parliament Acts". It will be a travesty if the Commons passes this bill today.

More than 150 North East health figures urge MPs to block assisted dying bill chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor…

Prof Rees, a leading gastroenterology expert said: "This assisted dying bill is not safe. We urge MPs to listen to clinicians and healthcare professionals and to many major medical organisations, who have major concerns about this bill."