Legalisation of assisted dying in England, Wales rejected

An attempt to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales has been rejected by MPs.

Passionate speeches in favour and against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill were heard during a more than four-hour debate in the House of Commons in London.

The measure was rejected by a majority of 16 - 286 votes against and 270 votes in favour.

The bill had proposed allowing adults in England and Wales, with less than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel.

Labour MP Lauren Edwards reintroduced the proposal after it ran out of time earlier this year.

She had warned that it could be another decade before the issue came before parliament again if it did not pass.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that he would not vote on the proposed legislation so as not to "unduly influence the debate".

The government was neutral on the issue and MPs voted according to their consciences rather than along party lines.

Campaigners against the bill argued that it contained inadequate safeguards and could result in some of the most vulnerable people being at risk of coercion and choosing an assisted death because they felt like a burden.

Opposition to the measure had been voiced by leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop Richard Moth, who described it as "wrong in principle" and "deeply flawed".

It was opposed too by Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the principal leader of the Church of England.

Medical bodies, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, had also raised "serious concerns" about the bill, saying there were "too many unanswered questions about the safeguarding of people with mental illness".

Previously, Mr Burnham said that he believed the funding of palliative care needed to be fixed before consideration could be given to legalising assisted dying.

But Ms Edwards insisted that both were possible alongside each other.

Marie Curie, Hospice UK and St Christopher’s Hospice charity were all neutral on the principle of assisted dying.

However, they repeatedly warned that access to and quality of end-of-life care was too patchy across England and Wales and the sector was severely lacking in funding.

"The need for more urgent and ambitious action to fix end-of-life care could not be clearer," the organisations said.

As the debate took place in the House of Commons, demonstrators in opposition and in favour gathered outside the building.