Assisted dying bill faces crunch vote in House of Commons
Update:
Date: 2025-06-20T07:28:27.000Z
Title: assisted dying bill
Content: The relatively narrow majority of 55 from the historic yes vote in November means every vote will count on Friday.
As an example, the would fall if 28 MPs switched directly from voting yes to no, but only if all other MPs voted exactly the same way as they did in November, including those who abstained, reports the PA news agency.
MPs are entitled to have a free vote on the bill, meaning they decide according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
A YouGov poll of 2,003 adults in Great Britain, surveyed last month and published on Thursday, suggested public support for the bill remains high 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.
Update:
Date: 2025-06-20T07:24:43.000Z
Title: MPs prepare for crunch vote on assisted dying bill on Friday
Content: Assisted dying could move a step closer to becoming law in England and Wales as parliament prepares for a crunch vote on the issue.
The outcome on Friday could see the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill either clear the House of Commons and move to the House of Lords, or fall completely. The debate will begin at 9.30am.
In what will be seen as a blow to the bill, four Labour MPs confirmed on the eve of the vote that they will switch sides to oppose the proposed new law, reports the PA news agency.
Labour's 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 called it 'drastically weakened', citing the scrapping of the high court judge safeguard as a key reason.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also 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.
Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater has insisted the replacement of high court judge approval with the multidisciplinary panels is a strengthening of the legislation, incorporating wider expert knowledge to assess assisted dying applications.
Ahead of confirmation of the four vote-switchers, 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 dying people must be given choice at the end of their lives in a conversation which has seen support from high-profile figures including Esther Rantzen.
Leadbeater has warned it could be a decade before assisted dying legislation returns to parliament if MPs vote to reject her bill on Friday.
Meanwhile, culture secretary Lisa Nandy has been on the media rounds this morning talking about this topic and sharing her support for the bill. More on this in a moment, but first here is a summary of the latest UK politics news:
Higher tax receipts were unable to prevent a rise in public sector borrowing in May to £17.7bn, up from £17bn a year earlier and the second highest for the month on record. A poll of City economists had forecast public sector net borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – would be £17.1bn. The figures will add to the concerns that the government is struggling to bring down the annual deficit to keep within strict spending rules.
Thousands of European airline staff are being trained to stop people boarding flights to Britain without valid visas, in a move billed by the foreign secretary as a digital upgrade to border controls. David Lammy said the measures marked a step towards 'more secure, more digital and more effective' borders, but the move could raise questions about human rights safeguards.
Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI).
The Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft has resigned as a whip in protest at the government's welfare plans, saying she will not be able to vote for the cuts to disability payments.
Children in England face prolonged 'lost learning' caused by extreme heat and flooding at school, according to research on the potential impact of the climate crisis on education. School leaders and teachers said the scenarios published by the Department for Education made for grim reading and urged ministers to move quickly to improve school resilience.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
34 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
MPs debate assisted dying before crunch parliament vote
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.
The Herald Scotland
34 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Will 2026 see people voting against parties - rather than for them?
Mr Swinney's two speeches mark a significant shift in the SNP's political strategy after their defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election at the start of this month. When he and Kate Forbes, his Deputy First Minister and Economy Secretary, took over from Humza Yousaf in May last year, their priority was righting the ship. The SNP had been losing support ever since Nicola Sturgeon's resignation, and under Mr Yousaf's leadership had been overtaken by Scottish Labour, ultimately leading to their heavy defeat in the general election last July. Read More: Mr Swinney and Ms Forbes have succeeded in stabilising their party's position. Since July, support for the SNP has ticked up slightly. But their vote share is still down significantly at around 30-35%, at least 12 points lower than their result at the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. The Hamilton by-election was a painful reminder of that fact, and that despite the collapse in Labour support since the general election, the SNP are still vulnerable in constituencies across the country. Current polling would see them win as many as 60 seats next May, down only a handful compared to 2021, but many of those seats will be tightly contested and swings similar to what we saw in Hamilton could cost them ten to 15 seats. What has been missing from Mr Swinney and Ms Forbes is a vision for Scotland that reflects public feeling about the state of public services and the Scottish economy and charts a way out of the morass. That's what Mr Swinney sought to provide this week. Whether that vision, such as it is, cuts through and either shores up the SNP's voter base or wins back some of those who supported them in 2021 but did not last year, is up in the air. The SNP have been in government for nearly two decades, and it's showing. They look and feel like a tired government running low on ideas and the political capital necessary to make the sweeping changes that Mr Swinney says are necessary. In the most recent Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, trust in the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests fell below 50% for the first time. Just 23% said they were satisfied with how the Scottish NHS is running, the lowest in the devolution era, and 83% said that standards of living in Scotland are falling, a new high. I suspect that Mr Swinney's claim that the status quo no longer serves the public well will resonate just fine. His challenge is to persuade the public that he and the SNP, having now governed Scotland for so long without delivering the change he is claiming is necessary, are the right people to deliver that change. That will be a much harder case to make. Tying that change to independence makes that case that much harder. I understand why he has had to bring the constitutional question back to the foreground for party management reasons, as disquiet around his apparent failure to make a case for secession burst into the open after Hamilton. But a big part of the reason why so many independence supporters voted Labour last July was the SNP's apparent inability to deliver independence or significant change without independence. The former has not been addressed – the same insurmountable obstacles exist; nothing has changed on that front since the UK Supreme Court ruled that Holyrood could not legislate for a referendum back in November 2022. And the latter cannot be addressed if Mr Swinney is simultaneously arguing that sweeping change is needed, and that independence is a prerequisite for that change. Independence might be a priority for SNP members and legislators, but it is not a priority for the Scottish public. Just one-in-eight Scots think that independence is a top issue facing the country, compared to a majority who prioritise the economy and the NHS, and a third who prioritise education. Even among those who voted SNP last July, just a third prioritise independence. There's a risk that putting independence at the heart of their campaign next May distracts from the rest of the SNP's message and leads to a sense that they are out of touch with the public's priorities. In the end, though, none of that might matter, because there is no single party that voters are rallying to as an alternative to the SNP. While Mr Swinney, Ms Forbes, and their party are hardly popular – just 34% of Scots have a favourable view of Mr Swinney, and 21% of Ms Forbes – Labour are even less so. 27% of Scots have a favourable view of Keir Starmer, and just 20% have a favourable view of Anas Sarwar. While only around one-in-five Scots think the Scottish Government is doing a good job on managing the economy or improving the state of the NHS or Scottish education, just a fifth think that Labour would do a better job – a quarter think that they would do even worse. Mr Swinney may spend the months leading up to next year's Holyrood elections pitching a big vision, and of course he must begin laying the groundwork for the SNP's campaign and start making a compelling argument for why voters should let him hold on to the keys to Bute House. Who knows whether that will cut through and persuade anybody, but I have my doubts. It's far more likely that next year's election will be defined by dissatisfaction with both the Scottish and UK Governments, and distrust of politicians generally, with voters voting against parties and politicians they dislike most rather than for those they like. Mark McGeoghegan is a Glasgow University researcher of nationalism and contentious politics and an Associate Member of the Centre on Constitutional Change. He can be found on BlueSky @
South Wales Argus
38 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
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.
