The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which allows terminally ill adults to be provided with “assistance to end their own life“, recently passed through Parliament in a 330-275 vote.
It is significant to note that the recent vote was a ‘free vote’, meaning that MPs did not have to follow party lines. Typically, within British politics, we can predict how an MP will vote based on their party’s stance on a given issue; this vote was no different in the sense that even though they did not have to, Conservative MPs mostly voted against the bill – such as, for example, the Exmouth and Exeter East’s Conservative MP David Reed, who told news outlets that after “careful consideration”, he will be voting against the bill. Contrastingly, Exeter’s Labour MP, Steve Race, voted for the bill to be passed and emphasised that he wants people to hold autonomy over their own lives, even during terminal illness.
In the broader context of Devon, only three of our county’s MPs – all from the Conservative Party – have voted against the bill. Yet, not all of Devon’s Conservative MPs followed this; for example, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon, voted in favour of the bill, along with the majority of Labour MPs around the country, and all the other MPs from Devon – the majority Labour and Liberal Democrat.
Many MPs have voiced the effort it took to read up on the context of the bill to cast their vote appropriately. The Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, Caroline Voaden, described her decision to support the bill as “not a decision [she] has taken lightly”. Perhaps the slight trend in votes going beyond party lines further suggests that the issue of having electoral power over people’s lives goes much deeper than just a parliamentary vote. Those against the bill’s passing have pointed out that MPs had just two and a half weeks to consider a 40-page Bill with “enormous impacts on society”, raising further questions over the sincerity of each vote cast on the day.
Following the vote to pass the bill, it will soon move to the next stage in the legislative process – the committee stage, where possible amendments will be presented upon scrutiny by Public Bill Committees.
