Assisted dying bill - latest: MPs vote in favour of historic legislation following fierce debate

Tory MP Andrew Mitchell has told MPs that he has completely changed his mind on assisted dying, and now supports people’s right to choose how they die.

He said that in the US state of Oregon, which has a similar law to the one being proposed in the UK, there has not been significant expansion of who can have an assisted death.

He argued: “Today we decide on a principle. If the Bill does not go through at second reading this will be the end of the Bill for many years.”

“There will not be a slippery slope unless this Parliament agrees to there being one,” he said.

“This Bill goes with the grain of our constituents’ views - something like 75% (in favour) according to recent polling.”

“Oregon shows us that less people take these steps once they know they’ve got this choice, this back up.”

Joann Taylor, 58, who has a condition called severe hypermobility syndrome, said she opposes the assisted dying Bill.

Speaking at a Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) protest outside Parliament, she said: “I’m against it because I don’t feel there should be assistance to kill disabled people before their natural deaths.

“Doctors can be wrong, cures can become available.”

Symptoms of severe hypermobility syndrome include frequently dislocating joints, frequent sprains and strains of muscles, poor balance and fatigue.

Ms Taylor, from Salford, added: “From my own experience, and many others too, of very prolonged miseries that the disabled endure in this country and beyond, our lived experiences aren’t understood by many.”

If the Bill is passed, Ms Taylor said she fears people who are vulnerable, disabled and depressed may make rash decisions.

She said: “Things change, your condition improves and you feel differently about life.”

Diane Abbott has said she is concerned for how marginalised and disabled people will be affected by the Bill if it passes.

She told MPs: “We will have the NHS as a fully-funded suicide service, but palliative care will not be full funded."

Ms Abbott quoted former prime minister Gordon Brown who has said that “we need to do better at assisted living” before MPs legislate for assisted dying.

She added: “I represent very many vulnerable people in marginalised communities. I cannot vote for a Bill where I have doubts over whether they will be protected”.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Parliament on Friday calling on MPs to vote for Kim Leadbeater’s private members’ bill to legalise assisted dying.

At Parliament Square, just around the corner from a demonstration against the Bill, protesters dressed in pink held signs asking MPs to “vote for dignity”.

One held a sign saying “my life, my death, my choice”.

Speaking from the protest, Ally Thomson, director of communications at campaign group Dignity in Dying, said: “It’s not a law for people who are making a choice between living and dying, that choice has been made already for them.

“They’re having a choice between two kinds of deaths.

“We know that the majority of the British public are very much in favour of Kim’s Bill.

“We would ask (MPs) to look to the views of their constituents, the voices of those most affected and vote in favour today.”

Mother of the House Diane Abbott MP has risen to oppose the Assisted Dying Bill.

She is arguing that it is “good principle” for the state to not be involved in death. “I have many reservations about this Bill, and in particular I do not believe that the safeguards are sufficient,” Ms Abbott argued.

She has raised the concerns of the former president of the Family Division of the High Court Sir James Munby about the Bill. Sir James questioned whether there would be secret hearings, whether the decisions will be made on papers and whether there would be capacity within the Family Courts to deal with assisted deaths.

Ms Abbott is concerned that judges might be just “rubber stamping” the application, rather than properly testing the situation.

Conservative MP Danny Kruger has been making the case against the Assisted Dying Bill, saying that what the Bill would allow in reality is “assisted suicide”.

Mr Kruger MP explained that he also has issues with the assessment carried out by doctors under the terms of the Bill: “It is impossible for doctors to predict with any accuracy whether a person will die within six months…The six month cut off is an arbitrary line in the sand.”

He also argues that this part of the Bill can be legally challenged by those who don’t qualify, expanding those who would qualify for an assisted death.

Reform MP Richard Tice has risen to say that there are specific issues that need be ironed out with the Bill, but that this can happen after the initial vote.

Mr Kruger is arguing that “pretty much anyone with a serious illness” could qualify to this.

Mr Kruger was interupted with a point of order from another MP, who told him to stop using the term “assisted suicide”, but he responded: “What this Bill will do is amend the suicide act, it will allow people to assist a suicide. We do need to use the proper language here.”

He also raises the point that there is no requirement under the terms of the Bill for the judge to actually meet the applicant for an assisted death.

“There is no requirement..for anyone to tell the patient’s next of kin...that the medical and judicial system is working in secret to end the life of their loved one,” Mr Kruger argues.

Labour MP Blair McDougall (East Renfrewshire) called for a “precautionary approach” to the assisted dying proposed legislation.

He added: “The things that have moved me in this debate to opposing this Bill today is that I have also heard stories of disabled people who have heard ‘do not resuscitate’ put on to their medical records without their permission, of them being stopped by strangers in the street and being told ‘you’d be better off dead’, and I know she will say that we are voting today on the specifics of her Bill, but we also voting on a principle.”

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater (Spen Valley) replied: Let’s be very clear the title of the Bill is Terminally Ill Adults. It is not disabled people, it is not elderly people, as someone else referenced. The criteria are very, very clear.”

Danny Kruger, Conservative MP, is arguing that the bill is “too flawed” to address in the committee stage, beyond today’s vote.

He argues that palliative care needs to get better before assisted deaths are allowed. He told MPs: “If we get our broken palliative care system right.. We can do so much more for all the people we will hear of today. But we won’t be able to do that if we introduce this new option. Instead we will expose many more people to harm.”

Mr Kruger is arguing that doctors can make the suggestion of an assisted death to the patient, under the terms of the Bill.

Andrew George LibDem MP has argued that today’s vote is just to let the Bill go to the next stage, and that any problems can be ironed out later.

Tory MP Danny Kruger has been chosen to respond to Kim Leadbeater and lead the arguments against the assisted dying bill.

While he is making a very conciliatory and respectful speech, his own family reflects the deep divisions on this issue.

Mr Kruger’s mother cookery writer and TV personality Prue Leith is a campaigner in favour of assisted dying who supports Ms Leadbeater’s bill.

Kim Leadbeater has sought to reassure colleagues over the level of scrutiny the bill will face, saying she will consider giving the Bill Committee the power to take oral and written evidence – something that goes beyond normal practice for a Private Members Bill.

She promised “line-by-line scrutiny” if the legislation passes its second reading, reminding members that a “vote to take this bill forward today is not a vote to implement the law tomorrow”. “It is a vote to continue the debate”, she added.

She also reassured MPs that the committee will meet over a number of weeks, saying there will be “ample time for full consideration of the details”.

It comes after some MPs expressed fears that the legislation has been rushed, with many suggesting that a Private Members Bill is not the right medium for such significant legislation to be debated.

Addressing the Commons, MP Danny Kruger said this bill is “simply too big for the time its been given”.