MPs reject bid to legalise assisted suicide

A LAW to allow assisted dying was overwhelmingly defeated by MPs yesterday in their first vote on the issue for 18 years.

Up to 1,750 British people a year could be expected to die by assisted suicide every year, the MPs were told earlier.

While critics warned the law would be open to abuse by relatives of vulnerable and elderly people, Labour MP Rob Marris, who proposed the measure, said the rise of the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland gave the move more chance of success.

However, 330 MPs from different parties voted down the Assisted Dying Bill, while only 118 gave it their support. The decision follows the refusal of Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland to publish guidance on assisted suicide in Scotland.

A ‘right to die’ Bill is also set be considered by the Scottish parliament following a failed first attempt by the late MSP Margo MacDonald in 2010.

Responding to the Westminster vote, Sarah Wootton, chief executive of campaign group Dignity in Dying, said: ‘The vote only goes to show just how ridiculously out of touch MPs are with the British public on the issue. By rejecting the Bill, Parliament has in effect decided to condone terminally ill people ending their own lives, but refused to provide them the adequate protection they need.’

Under the Bill’s clauses, two doctors and a High Court judge would have to approve patients for assisted dying.

They would have had to be terminally ill with less than six months to live, mentally fit to make the decision and aware of alternatives, while administering the fatal medication themselves.

MPs gave heartfelt speeches, including personal stories, for both sides of the debate, as campaigners gathered outside the chamber. Mr Marris, MP for Wolverhampton South West, said it was unlikely the debate would return to the Commons before 2020.

Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing, said after the vote: ‘They have done this because they have witnessed mission creep in the tiny number of places that have changed the law to allow assisted suicide and euthanasia – countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and the American state of Oregon.’

When the issue reaches Holyrood, MSPs are likely also to be given a free vote, although First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, like Prime Minister David Cameron, has said she does not support assisted suicide.