Assisted dying bill is defeated in House of Commons by 330 to 118 votes

The United Kingdom’s House of Commons has rejected a private member’s bill that would have given terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to a doctor’s help in ending their lives.

After an impassioned debate, MPs voted by 330 to 118 against a second reading for the Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill, introduced by the Labour MP Rob Marris.

The bill was almost identical to the Assisted Dying Bill, which made it through to committee stage in the House of Lords before running out of time in the last parliament. Largely based on a similar law in the state of Oregon, it would have allowed terminally ill people who were deemed to have less than six months to live the right to …