UK lawmakers voted 286-270 against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday, rejecting legislation that would have allowed terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.
The proposal required approval from at least two doctors and an expert panel. Its defeat ends the latest parliamentary effort to change the law during the current legislative session.
A conscience vote after a two-year debate
The government took a neutral position, allowing lawmakers to vote according to their consciences rather than along party lines. Prime Minister Andy Burnham did not vote, saying he did not want to “unduly influence the debate”. His predecessor, Keir Starmer, who has left Parliament, supported the bill.
Lauren Edwards, a Labour lawmaker, introduced the measure as a Private Member’s Bill, a process that allows an individual lawmaker selected in a ballot to try to pass legislation independently of the government. The House of Commons had previously backed assisted dying on two occasions, but the proposal did not become law after unelected lawmakers in the House of Lords effectively filibustered it. Read the context: Families carry campaign for assisted dying bill back to Commons.
Supporters and opponents respond
Lauren Edwards called the result hugely disappointing for terminally ill people and their loved ones who had been given hope by the Commons’ earlier support. Dignity in Dying described the vote as a devastating setback and said assisted-dying law reform remained a matter of when, not if.
Opponents focused on safeguards for vulnerable people. Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, said lawmakers had recognised concerns that changing the law could pressure some people to end their lives prematurely and argued that attention should move to palliative care.
An Ipsos poll published on Monday found that two in three Britons supported legalising assisted dying in principle, although that support sometimes depended on additional funding for palliative care.
What happens next
Because the bill failed at its first parliamentary hurdle, it cannot be revived during the current legislative session, which is expected to run until early next year.
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