MPs are preparing to vote on the first assisted dying bill in almost a decade which, if passed, would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with less than six months left to live to take their own lives.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would require two independent doctors and a High Court judge to approve a request from a terminally ill person to end their life, provided they have the mental capacity to make such a choice.
The subject has divided MPs across party lines, as well as in the Cabinet, with Labour granting its MPs a free vote on the bill. While some, including the bill’s proponent Spen Valley MP Kim Leadbeater, have said the bill offers strict safeguards and is limited in its scope, others have raised concerns about the prospect of self-coercion and whether the state of hospice care should improved before considering the legalisation of assisted dying.
READ MORE: Assisted dying bill offers ‘strictest safeguards in world’, says MP
Ahead of the vote on November 29, we are compiling a rolling list of how Labour MPs intend to vote on the bill. We will add to this list as the debate date gets closer and as more MPs signal publicly whether they will back or reject the bill, with many so far undecided or keeping their cards close to their chests.
Currently, 40 Labour MPs have announced they will be supporting the bill when it goes for second reading, with 20 planning to vote against.
You can see our current list of how Labour MPs have said they plan to vote on the bill in the table below.
How does the Cabinet plan on voting?
The bill on assisted dying has split parties at their highest level, including that of the Cabinet. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to say whether he will back the bill to date, he has indicated his support for a change in the law on assisted dying in the past.
Five other members of the Cabinet (Ed Miliband, Peter Kyle, Liz Kendall, Lisa Nandy and Hilary Benn) have expressed support for the bill, with three (Shabana Mahmood, Wes Streeting and Jonathan Reynolds) planning on voting against. Darren Jones has signalled he will either vote against or abstain on the bill.
Of the remaining members of the Cabinet, six (Pat McFadden, Louise Haigh, Ian Murray, Jo Stevens and Lucy Powell) backed a similar bill on assisted dying in 2015, with three (Angela Rayner, David Lammy and Bridget Phillipson) voting against. Four others (Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper, John Healey and Steve Reed) either abstained or were absent for the vote.
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