Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Report Stage: Amendment (a) to New Clause 10

What happened: The House of Commons voted on Amendment (a) to New Clause 10 of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill during its Report Stage on 16 May 2025. The amendment, which sought to add stronger safeguards or restrictions to the process by which terminally ill adults could seek end-of-life assistance, was defeated by 279 votes to 243.

Why it matters: The defeat means the bill continues without the additional procedural protections or restrictions that this amendment would have introduced. The vote is one of several contested decisions shaping the final form of landmark legislation that would, if enacted, create a legal framework for assisted dying in England and Wales. The outcome directly affects terminally ill adults, their families, and the medical professionals who would be involved in any assisted dying process, determining how tightly regulated or accessible the eventual system would be.

The politics: This was a free vote, meaning no party formally whipped its members, and the division lines cut across traditional party boundaries. Labour MPs split 118 in favour to 178 against, while Conservatives divided 75 in favour to 15 against, making Conservative members proportionally the strongest supporters of the additional safeguards. Liberal Democrats voted heavily against the amendment at 53 to 12. Independents, the DUP, Reform UK, and Plaid Cymru members leaned toward the amendment, while the Greens voted unanimously against it. The vote is part of a sustained series of contested divisions on this bill, with further amendments defeated and passed in a subsequent sitting on 20 June 2025.