Assisted dying is set to become legal after MPs backed the biggest change to suicide law in decades despite warnings people will die unnecessarily.
Medics will be allowed to help the terminally ill end their own lives after a bitterly contested vote in the Commons this afternoon.
MPs voted by 314 to 291 – a majority of 23 – to approve Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill despite warnings that it was rushed through and could negatively affect the disabled, domestic abuse victims and people with anorexia.
Under the legislation terminally ill people in England and Wales diagnosed with less than six months to live will be allowed to seek medical help to die.
It is expected that the process will launch by the end of the decade, with estimates suggesting as many as 4,000 people will use it annually within 10 years.
The vote came as supporters and opponents of the law change gathered outside Parliament to press the case, including Bake Off host Prue Leith.
MPs made impassioned pleas for and against it becoming law. They had a free vote on a ‘conscience matter’, with most of the parties split between the yes and no camps.
The majority of 23 is half that which the law changed received in a preliminary vote in November.
Among those believed to have voted for it were Sir Keir Starmer.
But opponents of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill also believe they may have the numbers to see it off the proposed decriminalisation in England and Wales.
Kim Leadbeater is confident her plan to allow terminally ill people with six months or less to live to be helped to end their lives will pass the Commons.
Mother of the House Diane Abbott asked MPs to vote against the bill, saying: ‘people will lose their lives who do not need to. And former Tory minister Sir James Cleverly answered yes camp claims that the law might not change for a decade if it is not done now, as he argued there will be ‘plenty of opportunities’ in future.
There was silence in the chamber as the result was returned this afternoon after a day of debate and impassioned arguments.
Mother of the House Diane Abbott had earlier asked MPs to vote against the bill, saying: ‘There is no doubt that if this Bill is passed in its current form, people will lose their lives who do not need to, and they will be amongst the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society.’
And former Tory minister Sir James Cleverly answered yes camp claims that the law might not change for a decade if it is not done now, as he argued there will be ‘plenty of opportunities’ in future.
Many critics on both sides have asked for the legislation to be postponed to allow more scrutiny and changes to it to be made.
