Polling expert James Johnson has said that the British public has turned against legalising medically assisted suicide, all in the space of just five years.
Writing for The Telegraph, Johnson recalled polling conducted in 2021 by his own organisation, JL Partners, that suggested 72 per cent of the country supported the controversial practice, with just nine per cent opposing.
That research also suggested greater support for the policy among supporters of the Conservative Party and a high degree of faith in safeguards aimed at preventing abuses of any assisted suicide law.
Fast forward to 2026 and Johnson says there is no “public consent” for an assisted suicide law. This, he argues, is not due to a fundamental shift in values, but due to the loss of faith that people have in any potential safeguards.
While the British public remain sympathetic to the idea that a terminally ill person should be able to end their own life, there are huge concerns about Kim Leadbeater's bill that recently stalled in the House of Lords.
More recent polling by JL Partners suggests that two thirds of those who support assisted suicide in principle want more safeguards in place for any potential bill, 72 per cent say eligibility for assisted suicide must be strictly defined, and 78 per cent say that those seeking assisted suicide should be actively offered alternatives, such as hospice care.
Just 18 per cent said that a person who has only just received a terminal diagnosis should be able to request assisted suicide without first undergoing an extensive assessment.
The polling also suggests concern about the wide scope of eligibility as proposed by the bill in Westminster. The bill would have allowed pregnant women, people with eating disorders, mental health problems, suicidal thoughts, and homeless people, to seek assisted suicide, something the vast majority of people oppose.
Johnson said, “The only version of assisted dying with anything near the levels of support seen in 2021 is one limited to those terminally ill people experiencing unbearable physical pain – not a requirement of the bill. The public only support a bill unrecognisable from its current state.”
