How your MP voted in assisted dying bill
Assisted dying is one step closer to becoming legal in the UK following a landmark vote in the House of Commons.
A Bill that would allow terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives was backed by a majority of MPs today (Friday). It came despite warnings from opponents, who argued it had been rushed through Parliament.
During a three hour debate on Friday, MPs on both sides of the issue recalled personal stories of loved ones who had died.
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Former Conservative 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.
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Encouraging or assisting suicide is currently against the law in England and Wales, with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years. But the proposed legislation took another step in the parliamentary process, which means the Bill will move to the House of Lords for further debate and scrutiny.
Labour MP Kim 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'. 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.
Today's historic vote was the first time the Bill was debated and voted on in its entirety since last year, when MPs supported the principle of assisted dying for England and Wales by a majority of 55 at second reading. MPs voted 314 to 291, majority 23, to approve Ms Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at third reading.
They had a free vote on the Bill, meaning they decided according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
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