MPs have voted against introducing a second version of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill by 286 votes to 270, following a debate in Parliament today.
A previous version of the bill had been passed in November 2024 with a majority of 55 at the first reading, and a smaller majority of 23 during its second reading in June 2025.
The bill was re-introduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards, who opened the debate by explaining it would give adults “autonomy and dignity at the end of their lives”.
Edwards criticised the actions of a minority of peers who had brought “one of the most significant national conversations that we have been having as legislators” to “an abrupt halt” when it ran out of time due to some 1200 amendments tabled by the lords.
“Who suffers detriment as a result?” Ms Edwards asked. “Clearly the terminally ill and their families who had a fair assumption that the will of the people they elected to represent them in this chamber would be respected.
“But also, those must navigate our current unclear laws.
“Laws that do not protect or guide those who work in our health system. Laws that do not contain safeguards against the risks of coercion, and laws that criminalise and traumatise families who simply want to be with their loved ones at the moment of their death.
“Laws that for directors of public prosecutions have urged need to change.
“If we do not vote today, to allow this bill to continue its passage through parliament, then we accept those outcomes as the cost of maintaining the status quote.
“And who knows how long it will be before we get the opportunity to consider the introduction of assisted dying laws again despite consistent polling showing that it receives majority public support.”
In a letter to MPs earlier this week, a cross-party group of over 100 peers also criticised the “delaying tactics by a small minority” of lords who prevented a vote on the bill earlier this year.
The bill was heavily debated in Parliament for several hours, with MPs raising concerns around safeguarding, those currently travelling abroad to access assisted dying and a lack of vote of confidence from the disability community.
Meanwhile other MPs raised the point that palliative care should be prioritised and funded first – an argument that ultimately held weight.
Labour MP Anna Dixon said: “I wonder whether my honourable friend shares a concern, given there are an estimated 170,000 people who die in this country each year without access to palliative and end-of-life care, there can be no choice until hospice and end-of-life care are properly funded.
Northern Irish Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon backed this comment, saying: “73% of people say that the bill should be rejected outright.
“The polling sees the danger, this house must halt the process, pause the bill and instead focus on property funding and palliative care.”
Responding to this criticism, Ms Edwards said that organisations who provide palliative care had acknowledged “their services cannot curb pain and suffering in all circumstances”.
She said: “We heard difficult stories about patients with cancer facing the prospect of faecal vomiting as their illness progressed.
“We listened as they recounted memories of watching patients bleed to death while conscious, cancer having eaten away at their carotid artery.
“We felt their frustration when the maximum level of dosage couldn’t alleviate the choking and suffocation of someone with peritoneal cancer.
“These people deserved choice and a dignified end too.
“We must grasp the opportunity in front of us to create a holistic end-of-life care system that will deliver choice and dignity for every single one of our constituents.”
2 responses
Marvellous result …a positive vote for life.
The public have been cheated by the decline of this bill. The MP’s,who voted against this bill, should be exposed.