Assisted dying: ‘We should be proud of all MPs’ civil debate and serious reflection’

For all the speculation that the vote would be down to the wire, in the end the result was decisive. MPs, by a majority of 55, voted to back assisted dying, in stark contrast to another vote on the subject less than ten years ago.

For Labour, it was a vote that divided the party beyond traditional left-right splits, with everyone from ardent socialists to free-market thinkers walking almost hand in hand in their respective lobbies for the free vote in the Commons yesterday.

It was a split that was, and will be, evident at the Cabinet table, especially as the bill gets greater scrutiny.

While the Prime Minister and Chancellor both backed Kim Leadbeater’s bill, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood were vocal opponents against it.

READ MORE: See how your Labour MP voted on assisted dying bill

One notable thing that united MPs of all parties, regardless of how they voted, was their respect for one another during such a sensitive debate.

The jeering and raucousness that we have come to expect from the Commons was, mostly, gone – instead replaced by respectful, thoughtful and considered contemplation of a bill of a nature of the scale of same-sex marriage, abortion and the abolition of the death penalty.

MPs spoke passionately for and against with deeply personal anecdotes, which left themselves and no doubt many in the chamber choked up.

Regardless of how you feel about the result, we should all be proud of our parliamentarians for treating the bill and the wider debate with the seriousness it deserves.

The debate on this issue should be held up as a gold standard that we should expect all our MPs to reach when debating any parliamentary matter.

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LabourList had been tracking how Labour MPs were planning on voting today; by the time the vote came, roughly 160 were on our list as undecided or had not made their position public.

From a close look at the result, it is clear that a majority of those ended up voting to back the bill at second reading.

While many of those MPs will have their own reasons for that move, it appears to suggest a willingness, at least from the Labour benches, to carry on the conversation and debate without necessarily committing Parliament to passing this bill into law.

Any talk of the bill passing into law is premature, for the result only marks the beginning of a greater debate over whether assisted dying has a place in British society and, if so, what form it should take.

Many more hours of committee procedures, along with discussion in the House of Lords and eventually again in the Commons, and of course the media, are yet to come.

However, there is no denying the historic nature of yesterday’s vote – one that may not be matched for many years, if not decades, to come.

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