Rachel Clarke

The succession of former prime ministers who lined up in recent days to assert their compassion for the dying was quite something. David Cameron, Theresa May, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson – all of them wanting us to know just how much they cared.

Imagine if this roll call of political powerhouses – each of whom was better placed than anyone to improve the fate of those with terminal diagnoses – had used that power, while in office, to do something concrete, tangible, to alleviate the terminal suffering that allegedly touched them so deeply. Imagine, in other words, if their actions then had matched their fine words now.

I don’t doubt the strength of feeling behind this vote in favour of legalising assisted dying in England and Wales, but as someone who has cared for thousands of people with terminal illnesses, I have to wonder at its sincerity. Because every prime minister over the last 20 years – and every MP for that matter – knows full well that much (though not all) of the pain and misery of dying can be alleviated with good palliative care.

They also know how much suffering at the end of life is caused by basic NHS, social and palliative care simply not being there for patients. Wes Streeting went one step further. The health secretary cited the threadbare realities of our underfunded, patchy, palliative care services as his primary reason for voting against the bill, stating (correctly) that the postcode lottery in care denies many patients a genuine choice at the end of life.

And he’s absolutely right. I see them daily, the dying patients that British society fails. They arrive sometimes in A&E, stricken with pain, desperate with fear, having begged for help and support that never materialised. After a few days of input from our team – the first palliative care they’ve ever received – their symptoms, their outlook and their hopes for the future can often be radically transformed.

Jessica Elgot

It is hard to think of a better MP to take on the cause of assisted dying than Kim Leadbeater. She is energetic, engaging, persuasive and speaks like a normal human being. She has no tribal reputation, so there is no barrier to winning over Conservatives, and she has experience of horrifying personal tragedy: her sister, the MP Jo Cox, was murdered.

But it would be wrong to say it was Leadbeater who won this initial push to legalise assisted dying. Under the surface, the most important contribution has been the one made by ordinary people, an experiment in participatory democracy by stealth. In the end, that was what delivered such a comprehensive victory for the change at this stage.

Downing Street may sneer at the idea of citizens’ assemblies, but there have been small-scale ones happening all the same. Hundreds of MPs were undecided at the start of this process. So invitations were sent out in constituencies for people to meet their MPs and tell their stories – in pubs, libraries, community halls.

The meetings were packed, MPs said. There were tears of anger and frustration, of reliving the worst moments of their lives, of anguished fear over what awaits if people are already ill, or of how a loved one might feel like a burden.

On equal marriage, it was often said that parliament was ahead of public opinion. On assisted dying, parliament has seemed to lag behind. Two-thirds of those polled back assisted dying. Equal marriage or abortion are comparable moments of a fundamental societal shift. But they will never be personal to everyone – unlike death.

Labour’s Diane Abbott, mother of the house, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she voted against the bill due to concerns that vulnerable people will “get swept up in the assisted dying route”.

She said that a quarter of people who want to place family members into hospices are unable to, adding:

If we are thinking about choice, we also have to think about the choice of people who if they could get support, could end their lives peacefully and happily but might find themselves either because they don’t want to be a burden or they are worried about their family’s finances being drained by the cost of care or even a few people who think they shouldn’t be taking up a hospital bed.

I think they should have a genuine choice and not see supported suicide as the only option.

She said she thought “very hard about it” but voted for “vulnerable people who, perhaps for all the wrong reasons, were going to opt for assisted suicide”.

Meanwhile, Abbott said that tweaks to the bill at committee stage were unlikely to sway her and other MPs who voted against it further down the line.

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran, chair of the health and social care select committee, voted for the assisted dying bill in the House of Commons yesterday.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said she has “long believed, especially in the cases of terminally ill adults, that they should have that choice at the end of life”.

She said:

I’ve been moved by personal experiences, my best friend’s mother contracted cancer about 20 years ago and we lived in Belgium at the time.

She started the process but in fact died before she was able to complete the legal part of the process because the cancer was so aggressive. I saw how taking back that little bit of control in her life was important to her.

Parliament needs to take the arguments against the bill “seriously” though, she added, while saying that health secretary Wes Streeting should be taking a more proactive approach to the issue of palliative care.

She said:

I was disappointed. I was expecting an announcement from Wes Streeting yesterday to say ‘look, we’ve heard and we are going to do something’ … immediate funding commitments and a view to making sure this is dealt with in the next year or two.

I would argue that, whether this passes or not, that is one of the key messages that came out of the debate.

Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news and views from Westminster over the next few hours.

MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.

Campaigners in favour of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill said it was a significant move towards giving people more choice over the way they die, after the Commons backed the bill by 330 votes for to 275 against.

Brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, the bill would give 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.

It still has further steps to go through before becoming law, and supporters believe assisted dying will not be an option for those with a terminal diagnosis for at least three years.

The vote, which is the first on the issue for almost a decade, split the political parties and the cabinet. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves voted in favour alongside prominent opposition MPs such as Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt. Those voting against included Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister; Wes Streeting, the health secretary; Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader; and Nigel Farage, the Reform leader.

During the five-hour debate, the Commons heard impassioned pleas on both sides. MPs recounted personal experiences of illness and death, and appeals they had heard from their constituents on assisted dying.

Esther Rantzen, who galvanised the debate on assisted dying last December after revealing she had lung cancer, said the bill offered everyone “equal choice”.

She said:

Those who don’t want an assisted death and don’t want to take part in providing assisted dying can opt out of it, don’t have to do it, don’t choose to end their lives that way. So it offers everyone equal choice, whatever their religion.

Kit Malthouse, who made an impassioned speech in favour of the legislation, said parliament had taken a “significant first step” and called for the government to now dedicate more parliamentary time to consideration to the bill.

According to recent polling, three-quarters of the public back a change in the law.

For the full report on yesterday’s historic vote, see here: