Assisted dying supporters brand Bill defeat ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘tragic’
The Terminally Ill Adults Bill was rejected in the Commons on Friday by a majority of 16, after 286 MPs voted against and 270 voted in favour
The failure of the assisted dying Bill has been branded “a travesty and desperately disappointing” by supporters.
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Other campaigners have called for the priority to be switched to improving end-of-life care.
Prominent campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill, branded it as a “tragic day”.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was rejected in the Commons on Friday by a majority of 16, after 286 MPs voted against and 270 voted in favour.
Impassioned speeches both in favour and against the Bill were heard during a debate lasting over four hours.
A small number of MPs were seen cheering and pumping their fists whilst others hugged as the vote result was read out.
Read more: Assisted dying will not become law after MPs vote down bill in dramatic U-turn
The draft legislation had proposed permitting adults in England and Wales, with under six months to live, to apply for an assisted death – which would be subject to the approval of two doctors and a panel of experts.
A similar Bill on the issue could be brought about by another MP next year.
However, the process would have to be restarted from scratch, as they would not be permitted to use rarely employed provisions in the Parliament Acts to prevent the House of Lords from blocking it.
If the Bill had been cleared in the Commons, that option may have been available to supporters.
Kim Leadbeater, the Bill’s previous sponsor, told the Press Association she is confident that the “issue will come back” to the Commons, but that it is “impossible to say” when that might take place.
After the vote, she called for supporters to hold onto hope, adding: “They are nothing if not resilient and the time will come again.”
Labour MP Lauren Edwards, who brought the Bill back after it ran out of time earlier this year, had previously said it could end up being another decade before the issue appeared before Parliament again if this legislation did not pass.
Ms Edwards described the result as “hugely disappointing” and “heartbreaking” for the 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.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham did not vote, having already announced that he would abstain so as not to “unduly influence the debate”.