MPs debate assisted dying before crunch parliament vote
Legalisation could move a step closer for England and Wales depending on the result on Friday.
The outcome will lead to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill either clearing the House of Commons and moving to the Lords, or falling completely – with a warning the latter could mean the issue might not return to Westminster for a decade.
Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Opening her debate, Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater, said her proposed legislation is 'cogent' and 'workable', with 'one simple thread running through it – the need to correct the profound injustices of the status quo and to offer a compassionate and safe choice to terminally ill people who want to make it'.
She shared emotional stories from people she had met throughout the campaign to legalise assisted dying, both bereaved and terminally ill.
Pressed by Conservative former minister Simon Hoare on concerns raised about the Bill by some doctors and medical bodies including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Ms Leadbeater said: 'We have different views in this House and different people in different professions have different views.'
She noted that all the royal colleges have a neutral position on assisted dying.
The relatively narrow majority of 55 from the historic yes vote in November means every vote will count on Friday.
The Bill would fall if 28 MPs switched directly from voting yes to no, but only if all other MPs voted the same way as in November, including those who abstained.
Supporters and opponents of a change in the law gathered at Westminster early on Friday, holding placards saying 'Let us choose' and 'Don't make doctors killers'.
On the eve of the vote, in what will be seen as a blow to the Bill, four Labour MPs confirmed they will switch sides to oppose the proposed new law.
Paul Foster, Jonathan Hinder, Markus Campbell-Savours and Kanishka Narayan wrote to fellow MPs to voice concerns about the safety of the proposed legislation.
They branded it 'drastically weakened', citing the scrapping of the High Court judge safeguard as a key reason.
Kemi Badenoch (Lucy North/PA)
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch urged her MPs to vote against the legislation, describing it as 'a bad Bill' despite being 'previously supportive of assisted suicide'.
As it stands, the proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.
Ms Leadbeater has insisted the replacement of High Court judge approval with multidisciplinary panels is a strengthening of the legislation, incorporating wider expert knowledge to assess assisted dying applications.
Before confirmation of the four vote-switchers, Ms Leadbeater acknowledged she expected 'some small movement in the middle' but that she did not 'anticipate that that majority would be heavily eroded'.
She insisted her Bill is 'the most robust piece of legislation in the world' and has argued that dying people must be given choice at the end of their lives in a conversation which has seen support from high-profile figures including Dame Esther Rantzen.
Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter Rebecca Wilcox outside Parliament (Yui Mok/PA)
MPs have a free vote on the Bill, meaning they decide according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
There is no obligation on MPs to take part in the vote, and others present on Friday could formally abstain.
Ms Leadbeater warned that choosing not to support the assisted dying Bill is 'not a neutral act', but rather 'a vote for the status quo'.
She said: 'It fills me with despair to think MPs could be here in another 10 years' time hearing the same stories.'
All eyes will be on whether Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and senior colleagues continue their support for the Bill.
Sir Keir indicated earlier this week that he had not changed his mind since voting yes last year, saying his 'position is long-standing and well-known'.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting described Ms Leadbeater's work on the proposed legislation as 'extremely helpful', but confirmed in April that he still intended to vote against it.
Wes Streeting (Ben Whitley/PA)
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has voiced her continued backing of the Bill, saying she she hopes it can clear the Commons and continue its progress to becoming law.
She told Sky News she has a 'long-standing personal commitment to change the law on assisted dying with appropriate safeguards' and praised the 'very considered and respectful debate over the last few months on all sides'.
A vote must be called before 2.30pm, as per parliamentary procedure.
Friday's session began with considerations of outstanding amendments to the Bill, including one to prevent a person meeting the requirements for an assisted death 'solely as a result of voluntarily stopping eating or drinking'.
The amendment – accepted without the need for a vote – combined with existing safeguards in the Bill, would rule out people with eating disorders falling into its scope, Ms Leadbeater has said.
Another amendment, requiring ministers to report within a year of the Bill passing on how assisted dying could affect palliative care, was also approved by MPs.
Marie Curie welcomed the amendment, but warned that 'this will not on its own make the improvements needed to guarantee everyone is able to access the palliative care they need' and urged a palliative care strategy for England 'supported by a sustainable funding settlement – which puts palliative and end of life care at the heart of NHS priorities for the coming years'.
Ms Leadbeater has warned it could be a decade before legislation returns to Parliament if MPs reject her Bill on Friday.
A YouGov poll of 2,003 adults in Great Britain, surveyed last month and published on Thursday, suggested public support for the Bill remains at 73% – unchanged from November.
The proportion of people who feel assisted dying should be legal in principle has risen slightly, to 75% from 73% in November.
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Rhyl Journal
18 minutes ago
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Historic vote brings assisted dying closer to becoming law in England and Wales
More than 300 MPs backed a Bill that would allow terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives. Yes campaigners wept, jumped and hugged each other outside parliament as the vote result was announced, while some MPs appeared visibly emotional as they left the chamber. Others lined up to shake hands with Kim Leadbeater, the Bill's sponsor through the Commons, with some, including Home Office minister Jess Phillips, stopping to hug the Spen Valley MP. Despite warnings from opponents around the safety of a Bill they argued has been rushed through, the proposed legislation has taken another step in the parliamentary process. MPs voted 314 to 291, majority 23, to approve Ms Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at third reading. This means the Bill has completed its first stages in the Commons and will move to the House of Lords for further debate and scrutiny. Both Houses must agree the final text of the Bill before it can be signed into law. Due to the four-year implementation period, it could be 2029 – potentially coinciding with the end of this Government's Parliament – before assisted dying is offered. Encouraging or assisting suicide is currently against the law in England and Wales, with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years. Supporters of assisted dying have described the current law as not being fit for purpose, with desperate terminally ill people feeling the need to end their lives in secret or go abroad to Dignitas alone, for fear loved ones will be prosecuted for helping them. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer remained supportive of the Bill, voting yes on Friday as he had done last year. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who had urged MPs to vote against the legislation, describing it as 'a bad Bill' despite being 'previously supportive of assisted suicide', voted no. Friday was the first time the Bill was debated and voted on in its entirety since last year's historic yes vote, when MPs supported the principle of assisted dying for England and Wales by a majority of 55 at second reading. Labour MP Ms Leadbeater has argued her Bill will 'correct the profound injustices of the status quo and to offer a compassionate and safe choice to terminally ill people who want to make it'. During an hours-long date on Friday, MPs on both sides of the issue recalled personal stories of loved ones who had died. Conservative former minister Sir James Cleverly, who led the opposition to the Bill in the Commons, spoke of a close friend who died 'painfully' from cancer. He said he comes at the divisive issue 'not from a position of faith nor from a position of ignorance', and was driven in his opposition by 'concerns about the practicalities' of the Bill. MPs had a free vote on the Bill, meaning they decided according to their conscience rather than along party lines. The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. Public support for a change in the law remains high, according to a YouGov poll published on the eve of the vote. The survey of 2,003 adults in Great Britain, suggested 73% of those asked last month were supportive of the Bill, while the proportion of people who feel assisted dying should be legal in principle stood at 75%.
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
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BBC News
31 minutes ago
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Assisted dying: The heat and emotion of today's significant vote
Today's vote is hugely significant. It now looks highly likely that assisted dying will be introduced in England and vote by MPs to approve Kim Leadbeater's bill is arguably the biggest vote regarding bodily autonomy since the legalisation of abortion in Great Britain in the baking heat of London's Parliament Square today, hundreds of campaigners stood chanting their views - both for and against assisted dying - amid a sea of colourful banners and was emotion too. Some carried photos of loved ones who died in pain, while others expressed their fears for the vulnerable in debate around assisted dying has been a polarised one - and there are still hurdles to cross before it will be a reality here. What happens next? The Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill will now go to the Lords, where it is likely to spend several months undergoing the same line-by-line scrutiny that it did before this year, perhaps around October, the bill would come back to the Commons for any changes to be voted on and it could then be sent for Royal Assent. So when could assisted dying become available in England and Wales?The government has said it could take up to four years to set up an assisted dying service, meaning it could be 2029 or even 2030 before the first medically-assisted death minister Stephen Kinnock said this delay was needed to ensure "safe and effective implementation" of an "entirely new service with robust safeguards and protections" which would need to be "carefully developed and tested".Under the proposals, mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with a life expectancy of less than six months would be eligible for an assisted would need to make two separate declarations, signed and witnessed, about their "clear, settled and informed" wish to die, and satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible, and have not been would be at least a seven-day gap between each application would then go before a multidisciplinary panel comprising a psychiatrist, social worker and a panel would hear evidence from at least one of the doctors and the applicant, possibly via live the panel approved the application there would be a further 14-day "period of reflection" which could be cut to 48 hours if the patient is likely to die within a month. Ms Leadbeater has said the whole process could take up to two months, which does raise the risk of people dying while they are waiting for process is also far longer than other comparable services on which the Leadbeater bill is Oregon, the first US state to legalise assisted dying nearly 30 years ago, there is a 15-day waiting period between the first and second request. Since 2020, this restriction has been lifted for patients at risk of imminent California, the 15-day cooling off period has been cut to 48 hours because of the risk of patients dying before their medically assisted death is chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty has cautioned against creating a system that would risk terminally ill patients being "stuck in a bureaucratic thicket" in their final months of the Leadbeater bill contains a lot of detail, there is still plenty to sort out if it becomes law. Training for doctors If the legislation is passed, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who voted against the bill, will be required to set up an assisted dying service under the NHS This means sorting out the training for doctors who will assess patients for capacity and for any signs of coercion or pressure, plus creating safeguards for those with a learning MPs first voted on the issue in November, the plans included a High Court judge who would need to approve each proposal has now been dropped and replaced with the new service will be overseen by a voluntary assisted dying commissioner, who will be either a serving or retired senior role will include appointing members of review panels, referring cases to them and monitoring the operation of the law. Although the proposed law is based on legislation in 10 US states and Australia, there are important California, patients are able to store the lethal medication at home and they are not required to have a medical professional present when they the Leadbeater bill, a doctor would prepare the drug, and be present when the patient self-administers would usually mean swallowing the lethal substance, although if that is not possible, the bill allows for a "medical device" to be used to enable the patient to ingest will be strict limits on what a doctor can and can't do. Mr Kinnock said it would be legal for them to help a patient sit up and make them comfortable, but not for them to tip a cup of pills into their health secretary will regulate what drugs can be used. In all likelihood these will come in a powdered form and need to be mixed with liquid for swallowing. Elsewhere in the world I was present at an assisted death in California and witnessed the doctor adding fruit juice to the drug in order to make it more palatable and less bitter for the patient to that occasion the patient, Wayne Hawkins, was unconscious within a few minutes of swallowing the drug and died in around 35 iplayer - Assisted dying: The Final ChoiceDeaths usually occur within an hour although there have been rare cases of it taking several some other countries that have legalised assisted dying, euthanasia is permitted, whereby a doctor or nurse administers the lethal dose, usually by is allowed in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but even for most supporters of assisted dying here, it is seen as a step too impact assessment, carried out by civil servants estimated there could be between 1,042 and 4,559 assisted deaths in the 10th year after the law came into upper estimate would represent around 1% of all deaths in England and happens to the Leadbeater bill in the coming months, assisted dying is coming to the British Isle of Man has already approved an assisted dying bill and Jersey is also committed to changing the law.A bill to legalise assisted dying in Scotland has passed an initial vote at Holyrood, but faces further hurdles. The Scottish bill does not have a life expectancy timescale for eligibility and instead refers to advanced and progressive disease that is expected to cause premature dying, or assisted suicide as many critics prefer to call it, remains illegal in most of the medicine means that healthcare systems can keep people alive longer than ever before, but often with limited quality of say that assisted dying gives autonomy and control to patients. For opponents it is a chilling and dangerous step which puts the vulnerable at risk of happens to the bill at Westminster, this heated and polarising debate will continue.
