14:30 Opponents of the Bill are expressing their elation on Twitter:
The Bill has been killed. Stone dead. Massive defeat
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorriesMP) September 11, 2015
Hurrah! Overwhelming
— Douglas Carswell MP (@DouglasCarswell) September 11, 2015
Not just a defeat but crushing defeat for the #Marris #assistedsuicide Bill! Wonderful loud & clear message to the ‘right-to-die’ lobby: NO.
— Peter D. Williams ن (@PeterDCXW) September 11, 2015
MPs have voted 118 for the AD Bill and 330 against. A great day for terminally ill & disabled people.
— Baroness J Campbell (@BnsJaneCampbell) September 11, 2015
A good day for the House of Commons: rigorous debate, pithy speeches, opinions changed through dignified argument, decisive result.
— Ben Gummer (@ben4ipswich) September 11, 2015
Battle won. Gird your loins for Assisted Dying (No.3, 4 and 5) bills.. http://t.co/miPAtxrUfJ
— Archbishop Cranmer (@His_Grace) September 11, 2015
Fantastic news, right to live still in place, #AssistedDying bill defeated by huge margin.
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) September 11, 2015
14:19 MPs have voted 118 in favour of the Bill and 330 against.
14:09 The House of Commons is now dividing and MPs will vote on the Assisted Dying Bill.
14:05 Mike Penning Justice Minister says that the Government does not take a view on the Bill and so he will speak in a personal capacity. He is speaking about his grandmother who suffered a stroke but who went on to live 20 years defying all expectations. He will be voting against the Bill because he is against suicide and wants to incentivise better palliative care.
14:02 The Shadow Justice Minister, Andrew Slaughter has urged the House to support the Bill.
13:55 Gavin Robinson MP for Belfast East says both his head and his heart oppose the Bill based on the worrying evidence from Oregon which would place medics in an invidious position.
13:51 Colleen Fletcher says that the Bill contains serious flaws due to a lack of safeguards with no provision for psychiatric assessment to protect the mentally ill.
13:48 Living and Dying Well share images from protests today outside of Parliament:
Opposers of assisted suicide unite in protests at @UKParliament #AssistedSuicide #supportnotsuicide pic.twitter.com/xBj3BsamC8
— Living & Dying Well (@Live_Die_Well) September 11, 2015
13:42 Times commentator Tim Montgomerie shares his fears for the future:
Top speeches by @LiamFoxMP, @NadineDorriesMP, Fiona Bruce against #AssistedDyingBill. I fear a duty-to-die bill will come. I hope not today
— Tim Montgomerie ن (@montie) September 11, 2015
13:31 Madeleine Moon MP is addressing the House and says that it is offensive to use the term “commit” in relation to suicide because it is not a crime. She is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Suicide Prevention and calls for the Bill to proceed because a debate is necessary.
13:26 BBC political correspondent predicts a vote may be imminent:
My impression is that more MPs have spoken against #AssistedDyingBill than for…nearing time when there might be attempt to move to vote.
— Mark D'Arcy (@DArcyTiP) September 11, 2015
13:18 The Economist has come out strongly in favour of assisted suicide and is running the following adverts across London:
13:12 Tim Stanley gives his midway verdict on the debate:
The anti side is winning the #AssistedDying debate. Don't say that triumphantly – it's just the arguments of the other side don't hold up.
— Tim Stanley (@timothy_stanley) September 11, 2015
13:00 Andrew Bridgen MP says that supporters of the Bill have an overly optimistic view of human nature and he opposes the Bill because he is vey concerned about coercion from avaricious relatives on the terminally-ill.
12:49 Nigel Evans, MP for Ribble Valley, opposes the Bill and worries that people will opt for assisted suicide to avoid healthcare costs. “Dignitas does not bring dignity to death…is that the best that we can offer?” he asks.
12:45 Right to Life reports a welcome change of heart:
Very good to hear that Ben Howlett MP has been convinced by the debate & constituents to oppose the Bill! #assistedsuicide #assisteddying
— Right To Life (@RightToLifeUK) September 11, 2015
12:40 Catholic MP, Rob Flello, is speaking against the Bill and pointing out that an assisted death is not quick or dignified. Flello argues that after ingesting a dose of lethal barbiturates, on average, it takes one hour to die.
12:30 John Pugh MP makes the point that if this Bill were passed people would still have to travel to switzerland as it doesn’t cover conditions such as Motor Neurone Disease or locked-in syndrome.
12:23 Maria Caulfield MP for Lewes, fears legalised assisted suicide would remove incentives for scientific discovery and medical advances and opposes the Bill. She points out that if we mirrored the US state of Oregon’s rate of assisted deaths, there would 1500 assisted deaths per year in the UK.
12:17 Rowena Mason, political correspondent at The Guardian, assesses how things are going so far:
I agree with @AndrewSparrow that mood of Commons seems against assisted dying. But maybe opponents keener to speak http://t.co/t5CEgZFTpa
— Rowena Mason (@rowenamason) September 11, 2015
12:10 Philippa Whitford, SNP, Health Spokesperson opposes the Bill because as a breast cancer surgeon she has never considered that “death was a good treatment for anything.”
12:04 Dr Sarah Wollaston MP argues that applying the principle of self-determination in this debate is risky because “suffering” is a subjective term. She says: “The duty of a doctor is to improve the quality at the end of life not to shorten it.”
11:55 Edward Leigh MP ask the House of Commons “what sort of society do we want to create?” One where we don’t value the poor, old, crippled ill and dying? He reiterates his opposition to the Assisted Dying Bill.
11:50 Isabel Hardman of the Spectator reacts to Paul Flynn MP’s assertion that euthanasia is happening anyway:
Except Paul Flynn, who wins the prize for totally misunderstanding palliation
— Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) September 11, 2015
11:40 Nick Herbert MP is addressing the House recalling how Bertrand Dawson euthanised King George V with a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine but still opposed its legalisation. He opposes the Bill and warns the House to be wary of the rhetoric of “rights” in this debate.
11:30 Steve Brine MP for Winchester who opposes the Bill quotes Winston Churchill: “There’s no such thing as public opinion only published opinion.”
11:25 This giant judge attends the No rally outside Parliament
Beware the slippery slope. NO to #AssistedSuicide. This AM @ #Parliament #London #UK | #NotDeadYet pic.twitter.com/2wi4jJT0D9
— Robert Padron (@bobpadron) September 11, 2015
11:20 Former doctor, Liam Fox MP, says that the law already allows for double effect-allowing for pain relief that may have the side effect of hastening death.
11:17 ‘No to Assisted Suicide’ highlights an important point from Jim Shannon MP’s speech:
Jim Shannon: % support for assisted suicide plummets when people know the full picture.
— NoToAssistedSuicide (@notoasuicide) September 11, 2015
11:13 A summary of Nadine Dorries’s intervention:
"Some people don't have a family. Their next-of-kin is the state. That sends a shiver down my spine." – Nadine Dorries #assisteddying
— Niall (@niallBADERg) September 11, 2015
11:11 Nadine Dorries argues that ingesting lethal barbiturates does not provide for a good or peaceful death.
11:06 Nadine Dorries is addressing the House and argues that the cases that Starmer was referring to are largely irrelevant because the cases he highlighted would not be covered by Marris’s Bill.
11:02 Keir Starmer argues that at present the only assistance with dying on offer is “amateur” rather than medical and professional and that this is an “injustice.”
11:00 Keir Starmer reflects on the cases of Daniel James, Debbie Purdy and Tony Nicklinson.
10:47 Life charity raises a critical weakness in the Bill:
Interjection in F Bruce's speech points out witnesses to applications for #assistedsuicid can be beneficiaries of the dying person's will!
— Life Charity (@LifeCharity) September 11, 2015
10:46 Keir Starmer, former Director of Public Prosecutions, is addressing the House of Commons now.
10:46 Fiona Bruce MP is addressing the House of Commons now. She is particularly worried about people who are mentally ill or who have learning disabilities and points out that charities such as Scope oppose the Bill. She describes the lack of safeguards as verging on “laughable.”
10:43 An onlooker notes an anti-Catholic streak entering the debate:
Sneery references to Catholics brought into the debate. The more things change in the House of Commons, the more they stay the same.
— Niall (@niallBADERg) September 11, 2015
10:42 The Alliance of Pro Life Students has been demonstrating outside Parliament this morning:
Pro-life students from all over the country #supportnotsuicide #MarrisBill #prolifestudents pic.twitter.com/P253v5xeSP
— APS (@prolifestudents) September 11, 2015
10:39 The Guardian editorial today has raised practical concerns about the ‘Assisted Dying’ Bill:
“The safeguards in the Marris bill are so stringent that it is difficult to believe they could form the basis of a workable national system. Some 500,000 people die in England and Wales every year – 15 times as many as in Oregon. If the same proportion of them choose assisted dying as have recently done so in Oregon, there could be several thousand cases a year before high court judges; several thousand extra interviews on a literal matter of life and death, each to be conducted by two psychiatrists at a time when NHS appointments are supposed to last 10 minutes. It’s hard to see it working.”
10:36 Crispin Blunt MP says that not everyone wants to share in the “Passion of Jesus Christ” by embracing suffering at the end of life. He supports assisted suicide.
10:34 Right to Life reacts to Rob Marris’s opening speech:
#Marris spent speech blindly asserting incompetent safeguards of his ‘#assisteddying’ Bill, & blithely ignoring concerns. #assistedsuicide
— Right To Life (@RightToLifeUK) September 11, 2015
10:30 Boris Johnson MP has come out against Rob Marris’s Bill:
London Mayor Boris Johnson is now against assisted suicide bill having previously been in favour #supportnotsuicide pic.twitter.com/1whFXh35Vf
— NoToAssistedSuicide (@notoasuicide) September 10, 2015
10:27 Communications Officer for Care summarises Caroline Spelman’s speech:
Dependency is a necessary feature of life, respect for life underpins our human rights says Caroline Spelman #notoassistedsuicide
— James Mildred (@JamesMildred) September 11, 2015
10:24 George Howarth MP says that opting for assisted suicide to stop being a burden is a perfectly rational choice.
10:23 Caroline Spelman speaks against the Bill saying that the Bill would change relationships between doctors and patients by promoting their participation in a patient’s suicide. Spelman says that if the elderly feel a burden our society has abandoned the Christian principle of honouring our fathers and mothers.
10:20 Rob Marris concludes: “If the exercise of a personal choice in a free society doesn’t harm others we should allow that choice.”
10:18 You can watch the debate in Parliament live here.
10:08 Interesting point from Director of Communications at Church House:
Rob Marris distances himself from Dignity in Dying in speech introducing #AssistedDyingBill
— Arun Arora (@RevArun) September 11, 2015
10:03 Rob Marris concedes that the majority of doctors in the UK are opposed to legalising physician assisted suicide.
10:02 Gisela Stuart MP asks what happens if a patient starts choking on a lethal dosage of drugs. Should the doctor intervene? Marris replies that patients have not choked on lethal drugs in other jurisdictions where assisted suicide is legalised.
09:57 Rob Marris outlines the safeguards in the Bill saying it only applies to people with a prognosis of six months or less. Helen Jones MP intervenes and says that prognosis is not an exact science.
09:55 Rob Marris says that the Bill is a matter of conscience.
09:55 Rob Marris is addressing Parliament and introducing his private members’ bill. He said: “It’s time Parliament grasped this issue.”
09:50 More than 85 members would like to speak in the debate which has been described as “unprecedented” by the deputy speaker.
09:45 Welcome to our live blog covering the second reading of Rob Marris’s Assisted Dying Bill, which will be debated in the House of Commons today.
At present, assisting a suicide is a serious offence punishable by to 14 years in jail. If MPs vote in support of the Bill society will cross a moral Rubicon in which suicide can be legally prescribed for the sick and vulnerable.
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