Overview
- MPs voted 286 to 270 against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a result delivered after more than four hours of debate on Friday that means the measure has fallen and will not progress this session.
- The draft law would have allowed adults in England and Wales judged to have six months or less to live to seek an assisted death, subject to approvals from two doctors and an expert review panel.
- Support for the bill narrowed because several MPs who had backed earlier versions changed their minds and critics including medical colleges and church leaders said the bill lacked clear safeguards on prognosis, mental‑health assessment and the risk of coercion.
- With the government neutral and the prime minister abstaining, the vote leaves supporters needing to reintroduce the bill in a future session if they want another Commons debate and it removes the immediate prospect of using the Parliament Acts this year to bypass the Lords.
- Charities including Marie Curie and Hospice UK stayed neutral while warning that end‑of‑life care is patchy and underfunded, public polling shows conditional majority support for legal change, and the result is likely to refocus pressure on funding and improving palliative and social care services.