MPs reject the assisted dying bill: What happened, and what next?

MPs have rejected the assisted dying bill – but why did a proposal they had previously supported lose this time, and what happens now?

Andrew Lewin MP, a supporter of the bill, hot-foots it from the Chamber to give us his immediate reaction. He describes the atmosphere when the result was announced, offers his explanation for the bill’s defeat and considers whether and how the campaign to change the law might continue.

Back in the studio, Hansard Society researcher Matthew England joins us to crunch the numbers. Turnout proved crucial to the final result: was the bill defeated because MPs changed their minds, or because previous supporters stayed away?

We explore why support has slowly ebbed in the Commons and examine the substantive and procedural problems that confronted the bill.

Could there now be a backlash against the House of Lords over the role Peers played in derailing the legislation? Might the Commons seek to curb the Upper House’s powers or was the Lords simply doing its job by scrutinising a deeply consequential and technically complex bill? And with this latest proposal defeated, is assisted dying now off Parliament’s agenda for the foreseeable future?

Plus, Nigel Farage told Reform UK’s conference that he would declare a “national emergency” over the small boats crisis. But would such a declaration actually give a Prime Minister any additional legislative powers? And Lee Anderson accused MPs of being lazy and suggested that, under a Reform government, Parliament would sit seven days a week to force through its legislative programme. What would that mean in practice for the management – and, more importantly, the scrutiny – of parliamentary business? Would MPs, officials and the wider parliamentary machinery be able to sustain it? And even if legislation were driven rapidly through the Commons, what would happen when it reached the House of Lords?

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Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

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