MPs debate assisted dying amid protests by both sides

The UK government has ruled out introducing legislation to allow assisted dying in England and Wales but will allow a free vote if a private member’s bill is introduced, it emerged this week.

The government was responding to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee’s report on assisted dying,1 published on Monday 29 April immediately before MPs debated a petition with more than 200 000 signatures on assisted dying. The petition, backed by the journalist Esther Rantzen, who has stage IV lung cancer, called for the government to allocate time to a full debate on assisted dying and for MPs to be given a vote on the issue.

Before the three hour debate, held in Westminster Hall, protesters held banners on both sides of the argument, with campaigners supporting assisted dying demanding that MPs “End unnecessary …