Assisted dying bill is passed in historic vote

End-of-life care to be transformed after MPs narrowly back bill to allow new rights

- Jessica Elgot Rowena Mason

Terminally ill people in England and Wales are set to be given the right to an assisted death in a societal shift that will transform end-of-life care.

After months of argument, MPs narrowly voted for a private member's bill introduced by Labour's Kim Leadbeater, which could become law within four years. Her bill, which passed by 314 to 291 votes, a majority of 23, was hailed by campaigners as "a day for the history books, where facts have prevailed over fear".

The emotional debate in parliament was dominated by pleas from opponents of the bill for stricter safeguards against coercion by abusers, concern from disabled people and warnings about the fundamental change in the power of the state when granted new rights over life and death.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, voted in favour of the bill, for which assisted death after approval from two doctors and a panel including a psychiatrist, social worker and senior lawyer.

Opening the debate, Leadbeater said that now was the time to seize the moment, to "correct the profound injustices of the status quo and to offer a compassionate and safe choice to terminally ill people who want to make it".

The Labour MP for Spen Valley said it was "not a choice between living and dying - it is a choice for terminally ill people about how they die". She warned that rejecting the bill was "not a neutral act, it is a vote for the status quo.. and it fills me with despair to think MPs could be here in another 10 years' time hearing the same stories."

Terminally ill people and families were in the public galleries watching the debate, and at a rally in Parliament Square.