Britain’s MPs have voted in favour of a bill that would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.
A majority of MPs supported a Bill that would allow terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives.
There were at-times emotional scenes in the Commons as politicians on both sides of the debate made impassioned arguments for and against what has been described as a “major social reform”.
MPs voted 330 to 275, majority 55, to approve Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at second reading.
Encouraging or assisting suicide is currently against the law in England and Wales, with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.
What is the reaction to MPs voting in favour of the assisted dying bill?
The reactions to the vote have been as diverse and impassioned as the arguments beforehand.
Pro-change campaigners said the vote in favour of assisted dying will leave thousands of people “heartened”.
Trevor Moore, chairman of My Death, My Decision said: “Thousands of people will be heartened by this result.
“Every day, 20 people in the UK are suffering unbearable pain at the end of their lives despite receiving the best possible care. For them, the choices are stark and harrowing: travel to Switzerland, and end their life by suicide, stop eating or drinking, or face and agonising natural death.
“These people deserve better. They deserve the dignity of choice at the end of their lives, and we are relieved to see MPs acknowledge this.”
Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and has argued strongly for a change in the law, said she was “absolutely thrilled” with the result of the vote.
But group Christian Concern has said the vote in favour of assisted dying marks a “very Black Friday for the vulnerable in this country”.
Andrea Williams, the group’s chief executive, said: “Today is indeed a very Black Friday for the vulnerable in this country, but this is not over.
“The proposals in this dangerous Bill have been completely exposed. The proposed safeguards are completely meaningless, and more and more MPs are waking up to that reality.
“This Bill will create more suffering and chaos in the NHS, not less, and if it goes through, the vulnerable will become more vulnerable.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, the Bill’s sponsor, said there was plenty of time to get it right as it underwent further scrutiny in Parliament.
She told the BBC: “We have shown Parliament in its best light today. Very respectful, very compassionate debate, irrespective of the different views that people hold.
“We take the Bill to the next stage now, we continue the process and it will be a very thorough process but we also have to champion all the issues that have been talked about today, whether that is palliative care, whether that is the rights of disabled people, the NHS. All those things are important.”
What happens to the assisted dying law now?
The Bill will next go to committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.
Ms Leadbeater, who put the bill forward, has said it would likely be a further two years from then for an assisted dying service to be in place.