MPs have voted overwhelmingly against a controversial bill that would have given terminally ill people the right to get help in ending their own lives.
Protesters against the bill came face-to-face with its supporters outside Parliament as MPs launched into the debate earlier today.
The discussion – the subject’s first appearance in Commons since 1997 – saw MPs given a free vote. In the end, 330 MPs voted against the Assisted Dying Bill, to 118 in favour.
Labour’s Rob Marris introduced the bill, based on legislation read in Lords last year that never made it before MPs.
It would have make it legal in some situations to help people with terminal illnesses kill themselves.
In a blog post ahead of the debate, the Wolverhampton South West MP said: "With appropriate, strong safeguards, terminally ill adults of sound mind should be legally allowed to choose to have assistance to end their own lives.
“I value life, and I do understand that some people believe very deeply that ending one's own life is always wrong. Nevertheless, the depth and sincerity of their belief should not mean that they deny choice to those of us who do not share their beliefs.”
Supporters of the bill and protesters who fiercely opposed it lined the streets, with one group holding placards reading “the law is broken” and the other claiming that “we need assisted living”.
The latter group claimed the “right to die” could have been abused or that people who are ill could feel pressure to lessen the burden on their carers.
But supporters said safeguards would be in place and pointed to a lack of choice for people with degenerative illnesses.
David Cameron was not in London for the debate, but his office issued a statement saying he did not support bringing the law closer to legalising euthanasia.
Lord Falconer, who introduced last year’s bill, said today’s proposals had “more chance” than that which he put forward.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “The courts have said repeatedly that the law is a mess and it needs to be dealt with and addressed by Parliament and it is a very good thing, this early in Parliament, that such a debate is taking place.”
Among those decrying the bill was the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance, which said disabled people would have been at risk, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who warned of a “slippery slope”.
But former Archbishop George Carey had taken the opposing view.
Campaign charity Dignity In Dying said it was time the UK “puts an end to unnecessary suffering and gives dying adults the choice of an assisted death”.
Additional reporting by Press Association
