Paul Blomfield shares grief at his father’s forced suicide

A Labor MP has made an emotional appeal for an amendment to the Euthanasia Act as he described the sad fate of his elderly father.

Paul Blomfield said he learned over the phone eight years ago that papa Harry had ended his own life after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer.

The 87-year-old ex-RAF pilot, like others in his position, took “very desperate measures” without warning his loved ones, the Sheffield Central MP said.

“Even discussing plans would make family members complicit and some people have been prosecuted for it,” Mr Blomfield, 69, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

He said the law banning euthanasia has made life “miserable” for people with terminal illnesses and their loved ones.

“I want to see a change in the law that gives people choice, which means people with a terminal diagnosis of six months or less can choose the time of their death instead of experiencing a miserable death,” he said.

Mr Blomfield said his father, who had a business career after serving in World War II, could have lived longer but felt the pressure to end his life “while he still had the capacity because he had seen friends dying badly “.

He rejected opposition to changing the law on the grounds that families could put pressure on people to end their lives prematurely.

Under the Suicide Act 1961, anyone convicted of assisted suicide faces up to 14 years in prison.

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