Assisted dying: Burnham says social care must come first

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham declined on Wednesday to say whether he would support new attempts to legalise assisted dying, saying palliative care and social care reform should come first.

Burnham made the comments after relaunching his long-running proposal for a national service to address care for elderly and vulnerable people in the UK.

Asked for his position on assisted dying, Burnham said funding for palliative care and social care needed to be fixed before the wider debate. He said it was difficult to discuss a law change while people were not receiving that care or reassurance about it.

The comments were his first on the issue since taking power less than two weeks ago.

A bill to legalise assisted dying failed in parliament in April after stalling in the unelected upper house. The proposed law would have allowed adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, with approval from two doctors and an expert panel.

Labour lawmaker Lauren Edwards is due to reintroduce the same Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill when parliament returns in September. It will again be a private members' bill, not sponsored by the government, and lawmakers will be free to vote according to conscience rather than party lines.

Burnham abstained when parliament voted on assisted dying in 2015, when he was last an MP. Asked about the issue in 2024, he told BBC radio he thought he would support the principle but wanted hospices properly funded before any law change came in.