Assisted dying will not become law after MPs vote down bill in dramatic U-turn
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was opposed by 286 MPs to 270, meaning it will no longer progress through parliament.
A bill to permit assisted dying in England and Wales has been rejected by MPs following a four-hour debate in the Commons.
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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was opposed by 286 MPs, with only 270 voting in favour on Friday afternoon.
There was initially confusion over whether it has passed, but the rejection of the bill has now been confirmed - meaning the bill has fallen and will no longer progress through parliament.
The bill, put forward by Labour’s Lauren Edwards, would have allowed adults with terminal illnesses and less than six months to live to end their lives, with the approval of a panel of experts.
She said the result was “hugely disappointing” and “heartbreaking” for those terminally ill people and their loved ones who she said had been “given hope when the Commons voted for this Bill last year”.
She added: “Assisted Dying will come in this country, as it is already doing all across the world, but not soon enough.
“Parliament has dropped the ball today. It will be picked up again as it must be, because the law as it stands is simply too cruel and too unjust to be allowed to stand.”
The news comes somewhat as a surprise, after a near-identical version of the bill was approved by the Commons in the last parliament.
That bill, sponsored by fellow Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, was then blocked by the Lords after a handful of peers tabled a huge number of amendments.
She urged supporters of a law change not to give up, adding: “They are nothing if not resilient and the time will come again.”
Ms Leadbeater said that while “the issue will come back” to the House of Commons, it was “impossible to say” when a future Bill will emerge.
An MP could bring another identical bill on assisted dying next year, but it depends on whether an MP wants to champion the cause going forward.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham did not vote, having already confirmed he would abstain so as not to “unduly influence the debate”.
The Government was neutral on the Bill and MPs voted according to their consciences rather than along party lines.
Former broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill, said it was a “tragic day”.
The vocal proponent of a law change, speaking via her daughter’s phone outside Parliament, said: “I’m so sad that people in this country won’t have the choice so many terminally ill adults in other countries have of shortening their own deaths by asking for help.
“I am sure a change in the law will come. I am deeply sad that it won’t come soon enough for many of the people who need it.”
Campaigners against it argued it contained inadequate safeguards and that it could result in some of society’s most vulnerable being at risk of coercion and choosing an assisted death because they feel like a burden.
Opposition to the Bill had been voiced by the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, Archbishop Richard Moth, who called it “wrong in principle” and “deeply flawed” as well as the Church of England’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally.
Medical colleges, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), had also raised “serious concerns” about the Bill, saying there were “too many unanswered questions about the safeguarding of people with mental illness”.
Terminally ill MP Ashley Dalton, who voted against the Bill, warned it is “not a moment for celebration”, as they called on the Government to “sort out social and palliative care”.
Mr Burnham previously said he believes the funding of palliative care needs to be fixed before consideration can be given to legalising assisted dying but Bill sponsor Lauren Edwards had insisted both were possible alongside each other.
Marie Curie, Hospice UK and St Christopher’s Hospice charity are all neutral on the principle of assisted dying but have repeatedly warned access to and quality of end-of-life care is too patchy across the country and that the sector is severely lacking in funding and said “the need for more urgent and ambitious action to fix end-of-life care could not be clearer”.
Following the vote, Hospice UK’s Toby Porter said now is the time for Bill opponents and supporters to “channel their energy and passion into fixing” what he described as a “hospice funding crisis”.
He added: “The Prime Minister has recently stated the need to fix palliative care funding. His support is welcome, but his words must now be accompanied by meaningful action. ”
Demonstrators in opposition and in favour gathered outside Parliament on Friday to make their voices heard on the debate.
Campaigners who had gathered outside parliament in the hopes of seeing the bill pass have called the news a "devastating setback for dying people", and were visibly upset upon hearing the news.
The practice has already been legalised in Jersey and the Isle of Man.
Other campaigners, including disability group Assist Us To Live, called the outcome of today's vote a "victory" for disabled people, terminally ill people and "everyone this bill would have put at risk".