Kim Leadbeater discusses the Assisted Dying bill
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Live: MPs debate assisted dying bill in the House of Commons
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Becoming the political face of what might be the greatest societal change in half a century was never going to be easy. But luckily for assisted dying campaigners, Kim Leadbeater is not afraid of a fight. The Labour MP for Spen Valley has faced increasingly personal attacks from opponents, which intensified in recent weeks as the bill committee carried out line-by-line scrutiny of her historic legislation.
Speaking to the Express in her parliamentary office, hours after the committee’s final meeting ended shortly after midnight, Ms Leadbeater admits it has been “brutal”. But she says: “I always come back to my journey into politics. The worst thing that could possibly have happened in my life happened when my sister was killed. So even though this has been tough, and it’s taken strength and resilience, it’ll never be as bad as what else I’ve been through.”
She is talking, of course, about her sister Jo Cox, the MP and mother-of-two who was murdered by a far-right terrorist in 2016 while on her way to a constituency surgery. The frenzied attack sent shockwaves through Westminster and changed the course of Ms Leadbeater’s life, setting her on a path into politics that saw her elected to her sister’s former seat in 2021. “I literally think about Jo every day,” she adds. “I think I always will, not least because her murder is fundamentally the reason why I’m sat here doing this job.”
Ms Leadbeater spoke to the Express during another week of intense debate about her Bill (Image: Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)
It was another unexpected turn of events in early September that led her to become involved with efforts to legalise assisted dying. The former personal trainer had barely set down her racquet？ after an early morning tennis session when her name was drawn first in the Private Member’s Bill ballot, which decides which MPs will have the opportunity to introduce new laws.
She recalls: “I was in the ladies toilet getting changed. Suddenly my phone started going crazy. I had journalists contacting me, colleagues, and people saying ‘What are you going to do? Can you speak to us about what you’re going to do?’”
Securing pole position meant Ms Leadbeater’s bill would get plenty of parliamentary time. “I had ideas about issues I felt strongly about and campaigns that I cared about”, she says. "But to come top of that ballot is a very, very unique opportunity and you have got a strong chance of changing the law. I thought, ‘I can’t do something small on this, I have to pick a big issue’.
“I had always known my personal views on assisted dying and as soon as I started doing the deeper research into it, and particularly looking at the inadequacies of the status quo, I thought, this is an opportunity.”
Ms Leadbeater was well aware the topic would divide opinion and spark strong opposition, but she admits she did not realise just how intense the media and public interest would become. Her diary soon swelled with parliamentary events, campaign gatherings, and meetings with civil servants and Government officials about her proposed legislation.
Ms Leadbeater has faced intense personal attacks since joining the campaign for assisted dying (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
With great power comes great responsibility — and, in this digital age, a significant dose of online abuse and misinformation. A quick search of the social media site X reveals posts calling Ms Leadbeater a “vile woman”, “the f****** devil”, “an obvious eugenicist”, and “the most dangerous person in the Commons right now”.
She says: “Sadly there has been unpleasantness and abuse and that has been difficult to deal with, particularly for my family and friends. The hardest thing about that is people questioning your motivations, your moral compass. I understand that some people believe that what I’m trying to do with changing this law is an immoral act. I understand that but I disagree.”
Online abuse, particularly that directed towards women in politics, has become dangerously normalised and is part of a wider societal problem, Ms Leadbeater adds. “I’ve always said it’s absolutely fine to disagree but we need to be able to do that in a civilised manner, and we’ve lost the art of that.
“The way I approach politics is through that same lens as Jo did, trying to find the common ground, reflecting on her words about having more in common than that which divides us.
“That’s not always easy, particularly on a topic like assisted dying where it’s a hugely emotive issue and there are deeply entrenched views, both for and against change. Sometimes you have to agree to disagree and that’s something I think we have got to be a bit better at.”
The MP warned that society is losing the art of disagreeing respectfully (Image: Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)
So what keeps the embattled MP going on the days when the opposition gets particularly nasty? “Pepsi Max and Jaffa Cakes,” she quips, before adding: “My team are amazing, I’ve got the best staff. I’ve got the most amazing family and friends who I sadly don’t see very much of, but they’re fully supportive of me.”
Public backing for the Bill has also remained strong and is expressed through a deluge of emails in her inbox and by grateful passersby on the street.
The Yorkshire MP says: “Pretty much every day, whether it’s locally or in London, someone will come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for doing the Bill’. That’s one of the things that has kept me going. Sometimes that’s all they say and they will just look at me, and I know they’ve been touched by this issue.”
Despite the heated debate that sometimes ensues, Ms Leadbeater says she is proud of the way politicians from all parties and with a range of views on assisted dying have engaged with her Bill.
As we depart the office, her team is gathering up a carrier bag full of biscuits, Bakewell tarts and other treats for a brief gathering to thank colleagues who supported her through the committee stage.
Ms Leadbeater remains hopeful that MPs will vote in favour of progressing the legislation again at third reading. She adds: “I’ve always been really clear, there’s no pressure from me to vote in a particular way.
“One of my jobs now is to just make sure that colleagues have got facts and they can make their decision. Whatever happens, we’re speaking about death and dying, end of life care, palliative care and hospices in a way that I don’t think we would be if it wasn’t for the Bill.”