MPs kill the Assisted Dying Bill

MPs have voted to kill off the assisted dying bill by 286 votes to 270, making it highly unlikely that such a policy will become law before at least 2030. The legislation was defeated after a number of its former supporters declined to back it this time around. When MPs last voted on the bill in June 2025, 314 backed it. Today, that number fell dramatically.

Labour’s Liam Byrne, who opposed the private member’s bill, called on ministers to ‘urgently’ establish an expert commission to examine how end-of-life care could be improved. He posted on X: ‘My conclusion remains that genuine choice does not exist without universal palliative care. The safeguards are not strong enough, our health and care systems are not ready and the proposed parliamentary process does not provide careful scrutiny that legislation of this consequence demands.’

Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of the campaign alliance Care Not Killing, also urged ministers to turn their attention to palliative care. He said: ‘We heard from numerous MPs, echoing comments made by the prime minister, that fixing the palliative and social care systems should be the priority for the government, rather than pressing ahead with this dangerous and ideological piece of legislation.’

The Assisted Dying Bill returned to the Commons after being revived as a private member’s bill by Labour MP Lauren Edwards. Archbishop Richard Moth, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, condemned the proposal as ‘wrong in principle’ and ‘deeply flawed’. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, argued that it would signal that ‘we are a society that believes that some lives are not worth living’. Medical bodies including the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Physicians also voiced ‘concerns’ about its safeguards.