British parliamentarians have rejected assisted suicide legislation following a lengthy debate.
In a free vote on the Assisted Dying Bill, tabled by Labour’s Rob Marris, 330 MPs voted against the proposed legislation, with 118 in favour.
One of the most vocal MPs against the bill since its introduction, the Conservative Fiona Bruce, warned her fellow MPs during the debate: “We are here to protect the most vulnerable in our society, not to legislate to kill them. This bill is not merely flawed, it is legally and ethically totally unacceptable.” Meanwhile, Conservative MP Caroline Spelman cautioned those considering the bill that “the right to die can so easily become the duty to die”.
Liam Fox, Conservative MP and a doctor, said the bill would have “opened a Pandora’s box” and risked “fundamentally changing the relationship between doctor and patients”.
Defending his bill, Rob Marris said it was time for legislation on the issue of assisted suicide as “social attitudes had changed”. The last vote on this issue was 20 years ago. The bill, he said, “would provide more protection for the living and more choice for the dying”.
The Westminster vote means that restrictions on assisted suicide remain under the control of The Suicide Act of 1961 which creates an offence for anyone encouraging or assisting a suicide or suicide attempt, with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.
Speaking after the vote, Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dying in Dignity, a group which lobbied for a change in the law described as “an outrage” the fact that MPs had gone against the wishes of the public, the majority of whom, she claimed, support assisted suicide. However, in a recent report on the issue, The Financial Times stressed that polled support depended heavily on the wording of survey questions.
