Royal Assent has been given to the island’s Assisted Dying Bill, Tynwald members were told as their sitting opened on Tuesday morning.
The President of Tynwald, Juan Watterson, said assent had been granted on Friday 16 October, Isle of Man Today and Energy FM reported.
Dr Alex Allinson, the former Ramsey MHK, introduced the Assisted Dying Bill 2023 as a Private Member’s Bill. It cleared Tynwald in March 2025, and Isle of Man Today said that at that point no other British Isles parliament had approved such legislation.
Progress then halted. Manx Radio reported that the UK Ministry of Justice declined to recommend the Bill for Royal Assent, citing worries about safeguards, monitoring and capacity. According to Isle of Man Today and Energy FM, those worries extended to whether the Bill was compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
In June, members backed a set of amendments tabled by Dr Allinson. Isle of Man Today said these strengthened protection for vulnerable people and allowed anyone to withdraw a request for assisted dying at any point. Energy FM described the changes as tightening safeguards on coercion, vulnerability and independent oversight. The revised Bill was then sent back for approval.
Jersey’s law on assisted dying was given Royal Assent earlier in the year. Manx Radio said this means the island is only the second jurisdiction in the British Isles to get this far.
Work still to do
Dr Allinson called the announcement “an important step forward for our island”, while cautioning that there was “considerable further work to be done to draw up codes of practice and guidelines with healthcare professionals”.
He said spending on palliative care was central to widening choice and dignity for people with a terminal illness. The BBC reported that he also saw the moment as the result of decades of campaigning by residents and politicians.
Clare Barber, the former Douglas East MHK and environment minister, who supported the Bill, said her nursing career had made the idea of a good death “exceptionally important” to her. In her view, the law “does not negate the need for palliative care, it complements it.”
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of the UK charity Dignity in Dying, described it as “a historic and deeply emotional day for the Isle of Man”. Campaigner Sue Biggerstaff, in a statement released by the charity, said someone close to her who died of motor neurone disease would have qualified under the new law. “It’s too late for him, but it isn’t too late for the next family,” she said.
Opposition
Manx Duty of Care, a group opposed to the law, declared itself “deeply disappointed” and called on newly elected members of Tynwald to introduce legislation to repeal it.
The BBC and Isle of Man Today reported that the group argues the Act contravenes the Isle of Man’s NHS Act, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It also contended that eight pages of amendments had passed without the normal level of scrutiny.
Should the law remain in place, the group wants any assisted dying service kept apart from both Manx Care and Hospice Isle of Man. Its other concerns include:
- the cost of the service and how that would sit with funding for palliative care
- where it would be based
- the issues left to be settled in secondary legislation
- the possibility of people coming from the UK to make use of it
