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MPs have voted in favour of the assisted dying bill paving the way for historic change not seen since abortion was legalised in 1967.
After five hours of intense and heartfelt debate, in which some members of parliament were brought to tears, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was passed in the House of Commons with 330 voting in favour and 275 against.
The result was a bigger majority than many were predicting after similar legislation was soundly defeated in 2015.
Under the terms of the Bill, terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months or less could seek assistance to end their life, provided two doctors and a High Court judge confirm their decision.
MPs were given a “free vote” on the issue, meaning they could vote according to their conscience and not along party lines.
But the legislation is far from certain to be passed with already more than 200 amendments tabled in the Commons and the House of Lords expecting to put it under intense scrutiny when it comes to them.
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who put forward the Bill, said it would “give society a much better approach towards end of life”, whereas Tory MP Danny Kruger argued that it would pave the way for a “state suicide service”.
Mr Kruger, who led opposition to the Bill, said following the vote that “a lot of people are very worried about the lack of safeguards”. He said there will be further opportunities to improve the Bill, and if that’s not possible, to reject it.
Campaigners in favour of assisted dying hailed the result, saying “thousands of people will be heartened by this result”.
But those campaigners who had been fighting against it promised “this is not over”.
The bill will now go to the committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
This is a breaking story. More to follow…
