Assisted dying blocked in England and Wales after MPs vote down law change

MPs have rejected plans to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales after a dramatic vote in the Commons.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was defeated by just 16 votes following more than four hours of passionate debate on Friday.

A total of 286 MPs voted against the legislation, while 270 backed it.

The Bill would have allowed adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.

Those applications would have been subject to approval from two doctors and an expert panel.

Labour MP Lauren Edwards, who reintroduced the Bill after the previous legislation ran out of parliamentary time earlier this year, had warned that rejecting it could mean the issue would not return to Parliament for another decade.

The Government remained neutral on the Bill, meaning MPs were free to vote according to their consciences rather than along party lines.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham had also said he would not vote, arguing that doing so could ‘unduly influence the debate’.

Opponents of the legislation said it did not contain sufficient safeguards and warned vulnerable people could be coerced into choosing an assisted death because they felt they were a burden on their families.

The Bill had faced opposition from religious leaders, including the Archbishop of Westminster, Richard Moth, who described it as ‘wrong in principle’ and ‘deeply flawed’.

The Church of England’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, had also spoken out against the proposals.

Medical organisations also raised concerns.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists said there were ‘too many unanswered questions about the safeguarding of people with mental illness’.

Mr Burnham had previously argued that funding for palliative care needed to be addressed before assisted dying could be legalised.

However, Bill sponsor Ms Edwards insisted the two issues could be tackled at the same time.

Charities including Marie Curie, Hospice UK and St Christopher’s Hospice have remained neutral on the principle of assisted dying.

But they have repeatedly warned that access to high-quality end-of-life care remains inconsistent across the country and that the sector is struggling with a lack of funding.

They said: ‘The need for more urgent and ambitious action to fix end-of-life care could not be clearer.’

The vote followed demonstrations outside Parliament, with supporters and opponents of assisted dying gathering to make their views heard as MPs debated the controversial legislation.

The defeat means assisted dying will remain illegal in England and Wales under the current law.