Commons Blocks Assisted Dying Bill
The House of Commons on Friday rejected a bill that would have legalised assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales, ending a two-year parliamentary effort by 286 votes to 270.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill fell at second reading, a majority of 16 after more than four hours of debate – it cannot proceed in the current session. Labour MP Lauren Edwards, who revived the private member’s bill after a near-identical measure stalled in the Lords earlier this year, had told colleagues that defeat now could put the issue off for a decade. Opponents cheered the result; supporters, including former sponsor Kim Leadbeater, looked subdued.
The draft law would have let mentally competent adults aged 18 or over, assessed by two doctors as having six months or less to live, seek medical help to end their lives after an expert panel approved the request. Edwards cast it as a tightly limited option that could sit beside better palliative care, not replace it. “We can and we should do both,” she said.
A Leadbeater-sponsored version passed the Commons in 2024 and again at third reading in June 2025, by 314 to 291, before running out of time in the Lords amid more than 1,200 amendments. Supporters called it filibustering by a small group of unelected peers. Edwards said the episode was “not how our democracy is supposed to function.”
The political ground had moved. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who was not an MP for the earlier divisions, abstained so as not to “unduly influence the debate.” He has argued that palliative and social care should be properly funded before Parliament revisits assisted dying. His predecessor, Keir Starmer, voted in favour. The government stayed formally neutral as the vote was one of conscience.
Labour split 190 for and 153 against, as Conservatives voted 90 to 17 against. Reform UK and most Northern Ireland unionists opposed the bill, with Liberal Democrats divided with a majority in favour. Party leaders Kemi Badenoch, Ed Davey and Nigel Farage all voted no.
Personal testimony filled the chamber. Labour MP Ashley Dalton, who has incurable metastatic breast cancer, urged rejection and said high-quality palliative care should come first. Others described relatives who had chosen the manner of their deaths, or warned that disabled people and those with mental illness could feel pressure to die rather than become a burden. The Royal College of Psychiatrists had earlier voiced “serious concerns” about safeguards for mentally ill patients.
Outside, Dignity in Dying called the result a “devastating setback for dying people” and said change remained “a matter of when, not if,” pointing to Jersey and the Isle of Man. My Death, My Decision branded it “a travesty” that left an “unsafe and unequal status quo” in which only those who can travel to Switzerland have a choice. Assist Us To Live, a group of disabled and terminally ill campaigners, hailed a “victory” for people they said the bill would have put at risk.
