UK PARLIAMENT VOTE FOR ASSISTED DYING – The Bill will now go to Committee Stage for Scrutiny
Assisted Dying could become legal in England and Wales since the House of Commons just passed the initial stage of the Assisted Dying Bill. The Committee Stage will now examine the Bill in detail and the House of Lords will debate the matter fully.
Adults who are deemed to be terminally ill with six months left to live will become eligible to end their lives legally.
Opening a debate on the topic in the House of Commons, Labour backbencher Ms Leadbeater said it was about giving dying people “choice, autonomy, and dignity” – saying, “the current law was failing them”.
Many MPs from both sides of the House gave powerful speeches against the Bill during the debate today. They made it clear that this dangerous and extreme change to our laws would put the vulnerable at risk and see the ending of many lives through assisted suicide. Others expressed concern that there had not been enough time to consider the bill before voting.
The last time such a Law was debated was in 2015 when it was rejected at the first reading.
The MPs voted for the assisted dying bill by a majority of 55; The MPs voted Ayes: 330 and Noes: 275. Although the vote passed, the margin of the vote was far closer than commentators expected. This is the first stage of a long route through the Commons and the Lords before it can become Law.
Labour has a majority of 174 seats in the House of Commons.
