“The western world should stand for life, vitality and hope over surrender and death.”
The White House has launched a scathing attack on Keir Starmer’s Government, branding Labour’s vote to legalise assisted dying as “state-sponsored suicide” in an extraordinary diplomatic outburst.
The stinging rebuke came after MPs narrowly passed Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill last week — a move which would allow terminally ill adults to end their lives legally under medical supervision.
In a highly unusual intervention, the U.S. State Department said: “As the UK Parliament considers support for state-subsidised suicide, euphemistically called a bill for ‘terminally ill adults’, the United States reaffirms the sanctity of life.”
“The western world should stand for life, vitality and hope over surrender and death.”
The comments came from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, a wing of the State Department, and are seen as part of President Donald Trump’s hardline social values push ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The backlash appears to have blindsided No10, with insiders claiming Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, did not raise the matter in his recent meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
The Commons passed the controversial law by just 23 votes — 314 to 291 — in a free vote, meaning MPs were not whipped by their parties. The bill now faces scrutiny in the House of Lords and could become law by 2030.
The US’s fierce condemnation marks a growing willingness by Trump’s America to wade into Britain’s domestic politics. It follows a string of interventions by Washington, including a warning to the Starmer government over threats to free speech and a quiet investigation into the jailing of a pro-life activist’s wife for inciting racial hatred.
“DISTURBING” INTERVENTION
As reported in the Telegraph, Senior Tory MP Sir John Hayes, who chairs the backbench Common Sense Group, backed the US statement, saying: “It’s a statement of how we perceive civilised life.”
He added: “It is unusual for our closest ally to become involved in issues around the legislative detail of what goes on in Parliament. The week in which we decriminalised abortion and legalised assisted suicide marked a turning point in the wrong direction.”
Sir Keir Starmer, a long-time supporter of assisted dying, hit back, insisting: “It is my responsibility to make sure the bill is workable, and that means workable in all its aspects. I’m confident we’ve done that preparation.”
His comments come despite warnings from Health Secretary Wes Streeting that there is no allocated budget yet for implementing the law.
