Assisted dying bill narrowly defeated as MPs vote against legislation

MPs have rejected legislation that would have allowed some terminally ill adults in England and Wales to access assisted dying, with the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill defeated by 286 votes to 270 at its second reading on 11 September. The vote brings the latest attempt to change the law to an end in the current parliamentary session.

The private members’ bill was introduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards, following an earlier version sponsored by Kim Leadbeater which passed through the Commons but ran out of parliamentary time in the House of Lords after peers tabled more than 1,200 amendments. The latest bill would have allowed terminally ill adults with less than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to safeguards including approval from two doctors and an expert panel.

The outcome marked a reversal of the Commons’ previous position, with MPs having backed the earlier legislation through its parliamentary stages. The government maintained a neutral position on the issue, with MPs free to vote according to their consciences rather than along party lines. Prime Minister Andy Burnham did not take part in the vote, having previously argued that the debate should be put on hold until improvements had been made to social care.

During the debate, Labour MP Ashley Dalton spoke about her own experience of living with incurable metastatic breast cancer and urged colleagues to reject the legislation.

She said: ‘The last time this house considered this bill at second reading, I was keeping a secret. Whilst honourable and right honourable members were debating the issue, I was grappling with my own terminal diagnosis.

‘I was told I have stage four incurable metastatic breast cancer. I was overwhelmed with grief, fear and anxiety. I was scared of what was to come, and I was fearful of how it would impact my family and my loved ones…When you hear those words, depression, anxiety, grief, fear, shame, and guilt come in bounds. Suicide risk is highest immediately after diagnosis, and it usually falls quickly within three to six months.’

Dalton argued that the proposed legislation ‘makes no provision to support this difficult transition or to create safeguards around it’. She also warned that a person can ‘also be suicidal and have unmet mental health needs prior to developing a terminal illness and then ask the state to kill them, without any assessment of their psychological health, just their mental capacity’.

Disability rights group Assist Us To Live welcomed the result, describing the vote as ‘a victory for disabled people, terminally ill people, and everyone this bill would have put at risk’.

In a statement, the group said: ‘As disabled people, we fight every day just to get support to eat, wash, leave our homes, and work, while palliative and social care systems remain dangerously underfunded.

‘We thank MPs for assisting us to live, and we’re ready to work with government to delivery the reforms we’ve been demanding.’

Labour MP Jess Phillips, who supported the bill, told The Independent that she was ‘devastated’ by the result. ‘But it’s not the end,’ she added. ‘It took many attempts to change abortion law, and so it will continue.’

Following the news, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) said that the vote marked the end of the legislation's passage through Parliament, stressing that any future legislation must have safeguarding and mental capacity at its core.

Reiterating that it has not taken a position for or against assisted dying, BASW said its focus has been on ensuring that any legislation is safe and properly supported, with safeguarding at its core.

“BASW recognises that assisted dying is a deeply personal and complex issue, and we have not taken a position for or against it,” the organisation said. “Our focus has been that if assisted dying becomes law, it must be safe and properly supported with safeguarding at its core.”

The organisation also highlighted the role of social workers in relation to mental capacity and safeguarding, saying it had consistently raised concerns that mental capacity had not been sufficiently considered during the previous parliamentary session.

“Someone making an irreversible decision needs to have the capacity to make that decision and be properly supported to do so,” BASW said. “Social workers have an important role here, bringing expertise in mental capacity and safeguarding.”