A bill to permit assisted dying in England and Wales has been voted down by MPs, almost certainly stopping such a measure from being enacted before the next general election.
In the second reading of the bill, put forward by Labour’s Lauren Edwards, MPs voted by ۲۸۶ to ۲۷۰ in the Commons for the bill to be blocked.
The result was a surprise given that a near-identical version of the bill, which sought to allow adults with terminal illnesses and less than six months to live to end their lives with the approval of a panel of experts, was approved by the Commons in the last parliament.
That bill, sponsored by another Labour MP, Kim Leadbeater, was blocked in the Lords, where it was talked out by a handful of peers who tabled a huge number of amendments.
As the issue is deemed a matter of conscience, it had been left to a private member’s bill rather than a government-sponsored one, with Andy Burnham and his ministers staying officially neutral.
However, the prime minister has been seen as less supportive than Keir Starmer, by announcing he would not vote on the bill – his predecessor voted in favour – and saying he believed the debate on assisted dying should be paused until social care was improved.
