Overview
- The House of Commons voted 286 to 270 Friday to reject the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, so it will not progress in its current form.
- The bill would have allowed mentally competent adults judged likely to die within six months to request assisted death, required approval from two doctors and an expert panel, and included a four‑year implementation period delaying services until about 2031.
- The government took a neutral position and Prime Minister Andy Burnham abstained to avoid influencing what was a conscience vote by MPs.
- Medical colleges, disability groups and some charities opposed the bill on the grounds that it lacked adequate safeguards against coercion, that doctors can be uncertain when predicting six‑month life expectancy, and that patchy palliative and social care must be fixed first.
- The vote follows earlier Commons backing that was blocked in the House of Lords after peers tabled more than 1,200 amendments, and it leaves future change dependent on a fresh bill or renewed pressure to use the rarely used Parliament Acts while campaigners push ministers to improve end‑of‑life care funding.