Assisted dying invoice vote: Latest updates as MPs debate new legislation to permit terminally-ill folks the proper to die for first time

A new law has been proposed to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the details of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill:

• Who would be eligible?

Only terminally adults who are expected to die within six months and who have been resident in England and Wales and registered with a GP for at least 12 months.

They must have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish – free from coercion or pressure – to end their life.

• How would the process work?

The terminally ill person must make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die.

The process must involve two independent doctors being satisfied the person is eligible and the medics can consult a specialist in the person’s condition and get an assessment from an expert in mental capacity if deemed necessary. A High Court judge must hear from at least one of the doctors regarding the application and can also question the dying person as well as anyone else they consider appropriate.

• How long would it take?

There must be at least seven days between the two doctors making their assessments and a further 14 days after the judge has made a ruling, for the person to have a period of reflection on their decision.

For someone whose death is expected imminently, the 14-day period could be reduced to 48 hours.

• What safeguards are there?

It would be illegal for someone to pressure, coerce or use dishonesty to get someone to make a declaration that they wish to end their life or to induce someone to self-administer an approved substance.

If someone is found guilty of either of these actions, they could face a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

• How soon could an assisted dying service be running?

Ms Leadbeater has suggested an assisted dying service would not be up and running for around another two years from the point the law was passed, with “even more consultation to make sure we get it right” at that stage.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he would vote today, saying he has a ‘huge amount of interest’ in the issue, but he declined to specify on which side he would come down.

But it has been reported the Prime Minister has given his strongest signal yet he will back assisted dying in what would be a landmark vote today.

Yesterday, Starmer insisted the bill would be a ‘genuinely free vote’, adding he did not want to place any pressure on Labour MPs unsure about which way to vote.

In 2015, the last time Parliament debated assisted dying, Starmer voted in favour of it.

Asked whether his views had changed since then, he said: I’ve obviously got a huge amount of interest and experience in this, having looked at every single case for five years that was ever investigated. I will therefore be casting my vote tomorrow.

In previous role as director of public prosecutions before he entered politics, Starmer set out guidance on when relatives would be charged for assisting suicide which he said then had convinced him of the ‘injustice’ of the current legislation.

The answer to this question varies.

Research by the Policy Institute and the Complex Life and Death Decisions group at King’s College London (KCL) in September suggested almost two-thirds of just over 2,000 adults surveyed in England and Wales want assisted dying to be legalised for terminally ill adults in the next five years.

But it showed the changeable nature of some people’s views, with some of those voicing support saying they could change their minds if they felt someone had been pressured into choosing an assisted death or had made the choice due to lack of access to care.

Overall, the polling found a fifth (20%) of people said they do not want assisted dying to be legalised in the next five years, while 63% said they do.

Campaigners from Care Not Killing said this polling showed public support for what they term “assisted suicide” had lessened in the past decade and highlighted the statistics around those who are concerned about people feeling pressure to end their lives.

More recent polling from More in Common found 65% support the principle of assisted dying while 13% oppose it and the rest are unsure. Its polling of around 2,000 people across Great Britain this month also found that almost a third (30%) were unaware a debate on the issue was happening in Parliament.

Around a quarter of those polled said eligibility for assisted dying should be on the basis of life expectancy, which is the case with the current Bill, but 51% said people with terminal degenerative paralysing conditions should be eligible, something the current Bill does not propose.

Before we look ahead to today’s proceedings, let’s take a look at what assisted dying actually means and where the law stands on it at the moment.

Here are three key questions and answers to get you going:

• What is assisted dying?

This, and the language used, varies depending on who you ask.

Pro-change campaigners Dignity in Dying argue that, along with good care, dying people who are terminally ill and mentally competent adults deserve the choice to control the timing and manner of their death.

But the campaign group Care Not Killing uses the terms ‘assisted suicide’ and ‘euthanasia’, and argues that the focus should be on ‘promoting more and better palliative care’ rather than any law change.

They say legalising assisted dying could ‘place pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial, emotional or care burden upon others’ and argue the disabled, elderly, sick or depressed could be especially at risk.

• What is the current law?

Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.

• What is happening at Westminster?

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater formally introduced her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament in October.

A debate and first vote are expected to take place on Friday.

If the Bill passes the first stage in the Commons, it will go to committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.

Ms Leadbeater’s Bill would apply only to England and Wales.

by Daily Mail Comment

The House of Commons votes on Friday on whether the State should give some of its citizens the right to kill themselves – and actively participate in their deaths.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill also sets out a legal and medical framework for when that right may be exercised, as well as the cold mechanics of how life would be extinguished.

There could hardly be a more profound moral issue, or a heavier responsibility on our elected representatives to examine every detail.

Yet this Bill was published only three weeks ago, and MPs are being allowed just five hours of debate before voting on it.

While that may be nothing unusual for a private members’ Bill, of which this is an example, is it really enough time to deal with a subject of such magnitude?

• Read the full comment piece here

by Sam Merriman, The Daily Mail’s social affairs correspondent

The vote on assisted dying was on a knife edge last night in the countdown to the crunch Commons debate.

While a majority of the MPs to publicly declare their position have come out in favour of introducing one of the most significant social changes in Britain’s history, the outcome still remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he would vote today, saying he has a ‘huge amount of interest’ in the issue, but he declined to specify on which side he would come down.

Meanwhile Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the proposed change to the law, spoke of being ‘emotionally ruined’ by weeks of campaigning and told how she can no longer walk down the street without somebody revealing a personal story.

After a five-hour debate today, MPs are expected to vote for the first time in almost a decade on whether to legalise assisted dying.

• Read the full story here

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as MPs debate introducing assisted dying laws to England and Wales for the first time.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow some terminally-ill people to choose when they can die if it is passed into law.

The proposed legislation has divided Parliament with many MPs declaring they will vote for and against, while a large number including Sir Keir Starmer have yet to state their intention.

Today we will hear five hours of debate followed by a possible vote on whether the bill will progress to the next reading at which point MPs can table amendments.

Join us as we bring you the latest updates and reactions from throughout the day.