The government’s impact assessment on the Assisted Dying Bill has come with cold, clinical projections: in just ten years, between 1,042 and 4,559 people could be choosing assisted death annually in England and Wales.
But let’s strip away the statistics for a moment.
That figure doesn’t just represent numbers on a policy paper — it represents people. Real people. People in pain, yes — but also people in fear.
People who are ill and vulnerable in a system that’s increasingly incapable of giving them comfort or dignity at the end of life.
People who may feel pushed toward death not because they want to die, but because society no longer offers them a bearable way to live.
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And now, with PIP cuts looming, the picture becomes even darker.
The bill claims to exclude disabled people – but when state support is collapsing, the line between terminal illness and long-term suffering becomes dangerously blurred.
Disabled people already face widespread neglect and poverty; what happens when the state begins offering death as a response to desperation?
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson [pictured], herself a disabled person and vocal opponent of the bill, warns of “grave risk” to the vulnerable — not through active coercion, but through the insidious pressure of being a burden, a cost, an inconvenience.
In a system strained to breaking point, with long NHS waiting lists and collapsing social care, we must ask: what does “choice” really mean?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The government claims neutrality.
Yet its own assessment admits to calculating up to £59.6 million in savings by year 10.
These savings come not from efficiency or innovation, but from people not living out their final months.
Palliative care, hospital stays, community care — all would be eliminated by a state-sanctioned decision to end life.
Can we seriously pretend that won’t influence policy, or affect how patients are treated?
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
We are told this bill is “strict,” that its safeguards are watertight.
But if we’ve learned anything from comparable systems abroad, it’s that legal creep is real.
In Canada, what started as a narrowly defined policy has expanded dramatically, now including non-terminal conditions like chronic pain and even mental illness.
Once society normalises the principle that some lives are no longer worth living, the criteria for that judgment can — and often do — change.
And even if the letter of the law stays tight, the context matters.
The government is legalising assisted dying in a healthcare system that is crumbling.
In a just society with compassionate, well-funded palliative care, one might argue this offers a rare kind of relief.
But that’s not the country we live in.
Here, hospices are closing, pain management services are patchy, and terminally ill people are left fighting for basic dignity.
In this context, “choice” becomes a falsehood.
- It’s not a choice if you’re offered two options: prolonged suffering or a fast-tracked death — with no genuine support to live well in your final months.
- It’s not a choice if you can no longer afford to eat or heat your home while dying.
- It’s not a choice if the system has already decided your life is too expensive to maintain.
Help fund great articles! We’re aiming for £50 to cover research and reporting time this week.
Can you chip in £3 today?
👉 https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
This bill is being framed as compassionate.
But real compassion would demand investment in end-of-life care, support for carers, and protection for the vulnerable.
Instead, we are being offered a cheaper, cleaner way to let people die — and being asked to call it progress.
The most disturbing part? Not that people will take this option, but that they may do so because our government has left them no other.
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Cruel Britannia is available
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The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Assisted dying or systemic abandonment? Is this a dangerous new direction
The government’s impact assessment on the Assisted Dying Bill has come with cold, clinical projections: in just ten years, between 1,042 and 4,559 people could be choosing assisted death annually in England and Wales.
But let’s strip away the statistics for a moment.
That figure doesn’t just represent numbers on a policy paper — it represents people. Real people. People in pain, yes — but also people in fear.
People who are ill and vulnerable in a system that’s increasingly incapable of giving them comfort or dignity at the end of life.
People who may feel pushed toward death not because they want to die, but because society no longer offers them a bearable way to live.
Help fund great articles! We’re aiming for £50 to cover research and reporting time this week.
Can you chip in £3 today?
👉 https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
And now, with PIP cuts looming, the picture becomes even darker.
The bill claims to exclude disabled people – but when state support is collapsing, the line between terminal illness and long-term suffering becomes dangerously blurred.
Disabled people already face widespread neglect and poverty; what happens when the state begins offering death as a response to desperation?
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson [pictured], herself a disabled person and vocal opponent of the bill, warns of “grave risk” to the vulnerable — not through active coercion, but through the insidious pressure of being a burden, a cost, an inconvenience.
In a system strained to breaking point, with long NHS waiting lists and collapsing social care, we must ask: what does “choice” really mean?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The government claims neutrality.
Yet its own assessment admits to calculating up to £59.6 million in savings by year 10.
These savings come not from efficiency or innovation, but from people not living out their final months.
Palliative care, hospital stays, community care — all would be eliminated by a state-sanctioned decision to end life.
Can we seriously pretend that won’t influence policy, or affect how patients are treated?
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
We are told this bill is “strict,” that its safeguards are watertight.
But if we’ve learned anything from comparable systems abroad, it’s that legal creep is real.
In Canada, what started as a narrowly defined policy has expanded dramatically, now including non-terminal conditions like chronic pain and even mental illness.
Once society normalises the principle that some lives are no longer worth living, the criteria for that judgment can — and often do — change.
And even if the letter of the law stays tight, the context matters.
The government is legalising assisted dying in a healthcare system that is crumbling.
In a just society with compassionate, well-funded palliative care, one might argue this offers a rare kind of relief.
But that’s not the country we live in.
Here, hospices are closing, pain management services are patchy, and terminally ill people are left fighting for basic dignity.
In this context, “choice” becomes a falsehood.
Help fund great articles! We’re aiming for £50 to cover research and reporting time this week.
Can you chip in £3 today?
👉 https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
This bill is being framed as compassionate.
But real compassion would demand investment in end-of-life care, support for carers, and protection for the vulnerable.
Instead, we are being offered a cheaper, cleaner way to let people die — and being asked to call it progress.
The most disturbing part? Not that people will take this option, but that they may do so because our government has left them no other.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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