UK votes on assisted dying bill
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The gist
UK MPs voted down the assisted dying bill for England and Wales on Friday.
The narrow defeat leaves terminally ill adults without a legal route to medical help.
Background
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would have let mentally competent adults in England and Wales with six months or fewer to live apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and an expert panel. A near-identical bill passed the Commons in 2025 by 314 votes to 291, but it failed in the House of Lords in March after members ran out of time to debate hundreds of amendments. The government stayed neutral, letting MPs vote by conscience rather than party line, and opinion polls have long shown a majority of the UK public backs legalisation.
How it unfolded
- 2025The legislation passed in the Commons by 314 votes to 291.
- March 2026The bill failed in the unelected House of Lords after members ran out of time to debate hundreds of amendments.
- Sep 11, 2026MPs voted down the bill at its second reading as it returned to the Commons, despite near-identical legislation being approved in the last parliament.
Who’s saying what
- Support
- Bill sponsor Lauren Edwards said there was a "real human cost to the delay" in passing the legislation, and Dignity in Dying called the defeat a "devastating setback for dying people" while vowing the fight continues.
- Caution
- Opponents say the bill lacks sufficient safeguards, particularly for vulnerable people; Labour MP Ashley Dalton, who has incurable metastatic breast cancer, urged colleagues to vote it down.
- Official
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would not vote, calling it "a matter for Parliament to decide" and stressing the government would remain officially neutral.
- Expert
- Bishop Stephen Wright of Hexham and Newcastle criticised the bill as not only bad but unneeded, and called on Catholics to contact their MPs with objections.