MPs have backed a historic step towards legalising assisted dying in England and Wales following a vote in the Commons, with a Jewish MP and NHS surgeon giving one of the standout speeches in favour, during an impassioned debate.
Following a five hour long debate on Friday, the Commons voted in favour of a bill giving terminally ill adults with less than six months to live the right to die once the request has been signed off by two doctors and a high court judge.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finchely and Golders Green MP Sarah Sackman, and chancellor Rachel Reeves were among the 330 MPs to vote in favour of the bill, with 275 voted against, which left a majority of 55 supporting.
Earlier the Labour MP Peter Prinsley, who is Jewish and attends Norwich synagogue, had told MPs why he had come to change his mind on the issue and come around to supporting the bill.
An experienced surgeon, Prinsley, whose wife sits on the Board of Deputies, told the Commons:”I asked the ENT nurse I’ve worked with for 20 years about assisted dying.
“She said it’s an essential change.
“No doubt in her mind, like me, she’s seen the unbearable distress that some head and neck cancer cause, and she knows of the very difficult deaths of some of our patients despite excellent palliative care.
“This is the experience which has changed my mind. When I was a young doctor, I thought it was unconscionable, but now I’m an old doctor, and I feel sure it’s the right change.
“I have seen uncontrollable pain, choking, and I’m sorry to say, the frightful sight of a man leading to death whilst conscious as a cancer has eaten away at the carotid artery.
“This is called a carotid blow out. I know the terrifying loss of dignity and control in the last days of life. ”
Prinsley, the MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, added:”I’m speaking here of people who are dying, not people living well, who have chronic or terminal diseases. We’re talking here of people at the end of their lives wishing to choose the time and place to die. This is not some slippery slope.
“We are shortening death, not life for our patients. This is not life or death.
“This is death or death. Coercion and manipulation have been spoken about and are no doubt feared, but I think the danger of no change to the law is a greater fear for those who are dying and wish to have choice, the very real fear of loss of dignity and control are at the heart of it.
“Do not underestimate this. There are strict safeguards in this tightly written Bill and I fervently. ”
Among those to vote against the bill included Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson, and Hendon MP David Pinto-Duschinsky. Other high profile MPs to vote against included cabinet ministers Wes Streeting and David Lammy, Tory leader Kemi Badenock, and shadow minister Robert Jenrick.
Other Jewish MPs to support the bill included Josh Simons and Georgia Gould.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis had taken the rare step of emailing MPs earlier this week to voice his objections to the bill
Kim Leadbeater, who brought the private members bill, told MPs the change was a generational moment and it would have been unlikely to be considered again for a decade.
But change, if it comes, is unlikely to occur for at least three years as the bill must pass several more hurdles in parliament, and then be voted on by MPs and peers.
An actual law could then be at least two years away after this.
