Assisted dying bill rejected by MPs comes as huge blow to brave campaigners

The assisted dying bill has dealt a bitter blow to terminally ill campaigners and the Express Give Us Our Last Rights campaign after MPs voted 286 to 270 against the landmark legislation at its second reading.

A rejected bill can be reintroduced in the next session of Parliament, but this would mean restarting a lengthy process.

Another possibility is that the government could introduce a new bill on assisted dying. However, Andy Burnham’s suggestion that palliative and social care needs to be established first means this is unlikely to happen in the coming years.

Today’s decision by MPs, after nearly two years of debate, means the law is unlikely to change until at least the 2030s.

The landmark Terminal Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been reintroduced by Labor MP Lauren Edwards after a previous version put forward by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater was blocked by a minority of peers in the House of Lords.

Opening the debate, she urged her colleagues to send an almost identical bill back to the Lords “so they can finish what they started” by scrutinizing the legislation.

Ms Edwards added: “We can and must improve both palliative care and assisted dying. We must seize this opportunity before us to create a holistic end-of-life care system that gives choice and dignity to every one of our constituents.”

Addressing campaign supporters this morning, Lord Charlie Falconer – the bill’s sponsor in the House of Lords – said he believed winning the vote would set the course for changing the law.

He added: “The more people see support for this cause, the more people there [Parliament] will finally reflect what the country thinks.

“The law at the moment is an absolute disaster and is causing people to suffer so much. So thank you very much for sticking by it. I’m sorry a few lords behaved so badly last time, but stay with us this time. We will change the law and hopefully today will be a milestone in that.”

During a tense debate, MPs once again spoke passionately about their reasons for supporting or opposing the bill. Claire Hazelgrove, MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, first told the heartbreaking story of her mother’s death in October last year.

She said her mum Ruth had lived with blood cancer since she was 32, which became an advanced stage incurable disease in 2024.

Ms Hazelgrove said: “That autumn when we debated the original version of this bill, Mum’s pain was excruciating. She had access to good palliative care, but the hardest thing we learned was that not all pain can be relieved. I will never forget the way she writhed and screamed in pain at certain moments, for weeks at a time. None of us will. I don’t know of any deity who would want that.”

Ms Hazelgrove said Ruth was able to return home and made the decision to end her life on her own terms. But the law meant she couldn’t tell her loved ones about her plan or say goodbye. The MP added: “Instead, the harmful status quo meant Mom died alone with our pictures next to her. That’s why our vote today and our work on it is so important now.”

“If we left it to another Parliament again, it would be too late for other people with terminal illnesses who also want this provision but instead face the same impossible obligations as my mother.

“In my mother’s last letter to us, she wrote: “I would like to see the assisted dying bill come into force in my lifetime. Perhaps there will be hope for others in the future.”

Meanwhile, Ashley Dalton, who suffers from terminal breast cancer, spoke out against the bill. She said the diagnosis left her very afraid of what was to come.

Ms Dalton added: “When you hear these words, depression, anxiety, grief, fear, shame and guilt go through the roof. The risk of suicide is highest immediately after diagnosis and usually decreases rapidly within three to six months.”

“I’d be lying if I said that, thinking about everything that was going to happen, I didn’t think it would have been fairer and easier for everyone if I had just gotten the death over with as quickly as possible.”

The West Lancashire MP said she now lives between scans every nine to 12 weeks, moving from treatment to treatment. She warned that the campaign around the bill risks creating the impression that every person suffering from a terminal illness will die painfully, without the option of euthanasia.

She added: “The idea that it is impossible to relieve pain and discomfort is false. It is nothing short of irresponsible to bully people like me into believing that we will die horribly when all the evidence suggests that with good access to palliative care, death is generally smoother.”

“The answer is not to bully people and their families, but to deal with palliative and social care first.”