Medical Ethics
End-of-life care, assisted dying, and medical ethics legislation
Based on 11 parliamentary votes
How Parties Voted on Medical Ethics
Government alignment shows how often each party voted with the government's stated position. Issue-aligned direction shows agreement with the AI-identified supportive stance.
Conservative and Unionist Party114 MPs · 936 votes
58%
Recent Votes
| Vote | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|
MPs voted on the Third Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — the final Commons vote on whether to pass the assisted dying legislation in its amended form. Passing Third Reading sends the Bill to the House of Lords. Yes = Support passing the assisted dying bill, allowing terminally ill adults in England and Wales to request assistance to end their lives under strict safeguards · No = Oppose the assisted dying bill, whether on grounds of inadequate safeguards, ethical objections, or concerns about vulnerable people being pressured Govt: Free vote | 315-291 | 20 Jun 2025 |
Vote on an amendment to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill that would prevent someone from qualifying as 'terminally ill' under the Bill solely because they have voluntarily stopped eating and drinking. This matters because without the amendment, a person could potentially use voluntary starvation to meet the terminal illness threshold and access an assisted death. Yes = Support closing a potential loophole that could allow people to qualify for assisted dying by voluntarily stopping eating and drinking, tightening the definition of terminal illness · No = Oppose this restriction, either because the loophole concern is overstated or because the amendment could exclude some genuinely dying patients whose condition involves reduced eating and drinking Govt: Free vote | 277-209 | 20 Jun 2025 |
Vote on whether to prevent someone from qualifying as 'terminally ill' under the assisted dying bill solely because they have voluntarily stopped eating and drinking. The amendment aimed to close a potential loophole where a person might use self-starvation to meet the terminal illness criteria they would not otherwise meet. Yes = Support tightening the definition of terminal illness to exclude cases where someone has brought themselves to that condition by voluntarily stopping eating and drinking, preventing the bill's scope from being expanded through this route. · No = Oppose this restriction, either because it is unnecessary, could harm legitimate cases, or because it might complicate care for patients who have already chosen to stop eating and drinking for other reasons. Govt: Free vote | 272-223 | 20 Jun 2025 |
Vote on whether to prevent someone from qualifying as 'terminally ill' under the assisted dying bill solely because they have chosen to stop eating and drinking. The amendment would close a potential loophole where a person who is not otherwise terminally ill could meet the bill's eligibility criteria by voluntarily starving themselves. Yes = Support adding a safeguard to prevent voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED) from being used as a route to qualify for assisted dying under the bill · No = Oppose this restriction, preferring to keep the bill's terminal illness definition as drafted without this additional exclusion Govt: Free vote | 212-266 | 20 Jun 2025 |
Vote on whether to add a provision to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ensuring that if an independent doctor dies or becomes too ill to complete their assessment before signing off on an assisted dying request, a further referral can be made to another doctor — mirroring an existing provision in the Bill for the attending doctor. Yes = Support adding this safeguard to ensure continuity and completeness of the independent medical review process in assisted dying cases · No = Oppose this amendment, either preferring the Bill as drafted or having broader concerns about the Bill's safeguards or direction Govt: Free vote | 224-271 | 20 Jun 2025 |
A procedural vote on whether to allow New Clause 16 to be formally considered as part of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at Report Stage, after proceedings had been interrupted on 13 June when an objection was raised. The debate excerpts do not reveal the substantive content of New Clause 16. Yes = Support allowing New Clause 16 to be read a second time and considered as part of the assisted dying Bill · No = Oppose New Clause 16 being read a second time, effectively blocking its consideration in the Bill Govt: Free vote | 209-260 | 20 Jun 2025 |
Vote on New Clause 2 to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, debated alongside related amendments including provisions on guidance, devolution, and regulatory consultation. The excerpts focus on New Clause 20, which would require the Secretary of State to issue guidance (consulting chief medical officers and palliative/hospice care providers) and enable Welsh Ministers to issue guidance on devolved health matters. Yes = Support adding clear statutory duties around guidance and devolved responsibilities to the assisted dying framework, including consulting medical experts and palliative care providers · No = Oppose these particular provisions, either due to concerns about the bill itself or the specific approach to guidance and devolution Govt: Free vote | 260-219 | 13 Jun 2025 |
Vote on whether to strengthen the advertising ban in the Assisted Dying Bill by requiring that any advertising restrictions also cover situations where advertisers know their adverts could influence vulnerable people's choices — going further than the basic ban proposed by the bill's sponsor Kim Leadbeater. Yes = Support a stronger, broader ban on advertising of assisted dying services, emphasising that advertising influences choices and that protecting vulnerable people from coercion requires tighter restrictions · No = Prefer the existing advertising ban in the bill as drafted by Kim Leadbeater, without the additional strengthening provisions proposed in this amendment Govt: Free vote | 234-251 | 13 Jun 2025 |
Vote on New Clause 1 to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a private member's bill on assisted dying. Based on available debate context, this was one of several amendments considered at Report Stage, with the bill's sponsor Kim Leadbeater presenting changes developed with government legal and health officials to make the legislation workable. Yes = Support New Clause 1 as proposed to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · No = Oppose New Clause 1, either rejecting its specific provisions or opposing the assisted dying framework more broadly Govt: Free vote | 231-256 | 13 Jun 2025 |
Vote on whether to allow employers who opt out of providing assisted dying to also prohibit their employees from participating in assisted dying while working for them. This amendment to the Terminally Ill Adults Bill would let, for example, a religious hospice or care home prevent its staff from facilitating assisted dying even if the individual healthcare worker personally wished to do so. Yes = Support giving employers the right to prohibit staff from participating in assisted dying as part of their employment, even if those staff personally support it · No = Oppose restricting individual healthcare workers' ability to participate in assisted dying based solely on their employer's conscience objection Govt: Free vote | 244-278 | 16 May 2025 |
How is this calculated?
Government alignment (primary bar) shows how often a party's MPs voted with the government's stated position on this issue. This is the most comparable metric across parties, as it measures the same reference point for everyone.
Issue-aligned direction (secondary bar) shows how often MPs voted in the direction tagged as supportive of this issue by AI analysis. For example, if a vote is tagged “pro-environment”, a Yes vote counts as aligned. This can be misleading when the tagged direction happens to align with opposition amendments rather than government bills.
Why these metrics may differ: Opposition parties often vote against government bills for strategic or procedural reasons, even when they broadly support the policy area. The government alignment metric makes this clearer by showing the actual voting pattern against a consistent reference.
Source: Commons division data from the UK Parliament Votes API. Alignment direction determined by AI analysis of vote stance tags. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.