The UK assisted dying bill would have allowed terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with six months or less to live, to seek medical help to end their own lives under strict safeguards. MPs rejected it at second reading on 11 September 2026, by 286 votes to 270, so assisted dying remains illegal in England and Wales. The vote ended a two-year parliamentary battle that had once looked certain to succeed.

The bill at the centre of the debate was the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, reintroduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards in June 2026 after an earlier version ran out of parliamentary time. Its defeat by just sixteen votes was a sharp reversal: the same House of Commons had passed a near-identical bill by 314 votes to 291 only fifteen months earlier. This guide explains what the bill proposed, who it would have covered, how it reached the vote, why MPs turned against it, and what the law says now.

What is the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill?

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was a private member's bill, which means it was introduced by an individual MP rather than by the government. Its long title described it as a bill to allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life.

The bill would have applied only in England and Wales. It would not have changed the law in Scotland or Northern Ireland, which have their own separate legal systems and parliaments. It was the first assisted dying bill in British history to pass all three readings in the House of Commons, in its earlier form, before stalling in the House of Lords.

The campaign for the bill was led in Parliament first by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the original version in October 2024 after topping the ballot for private member's bills. Dame Esther Rantzen, the broadcaster, was its most high-profile supporter outside Parliament until her death in 2026. After the original bill ran out of time, Lauren Edwards, the Labour MP for Rochester and Strood, reintroduced it in June 2026 in nearly identical form.

Who would the bill have covered?

The bill set out a narrow set of conditions. A person would have had to be aged 18 or over, registered with a GP in England or Wales, and diagnosed with a terminal illness from which they were expected to die within six months. They would have had to have the mental capacity to make the decision, to make a clear and settled request, and to be able to take the life-ending substance themselves. The bill did not cover euthanasia, where a doctor administers the substance: the person would have had to self-administer it.

Before an assisted death could go ahead, two independent doctors would have had to confirm that the person met all the conditions, including that their decision was voluntary and not the result of pressure or coercion. The case would then have gone before a multidisciplinary panel, which in the reintroduced bill included a social worker, to review the decision. The bill also included a four-year implementation period, and its sponsor told MPs that assisted dying would not have been available until 2031 at the earliest.

Doctors and other health professionals would not have been forced to take part. The bill included a right for medical staff to refuse to participate on conscience grounds, and it set out criminal penalties for anyone who pressured a person into requesting an assisted death.

Key facts about the bill

• Full name: Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a private member's bill for England and Wales.
• Who it would have covered: adults aged 18 or over, terminally ill with six months or less to live, with mental capacity, able to self-administer the substance.
• Safeguards proposed: approval by two doctors and a multidisciplinary panel, a settled and voluntary request, and a right for medical staff to opt out.
• First reading: 16 October 2024, introduced by Kim Leadbeater MP.
• Second reading: 29 November 2024, passed by 330 votes to 275.
• Third reading: 20 June 2025, passed by 314 votes to 291.
• House of Lords: stalled after peers tabled around 1,200 amendments; ran out of time in April 2026.
• Reintroduced: 17 June 2026 by Lauren Edwards MP.
• Rejected: 11 September 2026, second reading, by 286 votes to 270 (Division 75).
• Current position: assisted dying remains illegal in England and Wales.

How did the bill get to the vote?

The bill's journey through Parliament took almost two years and three separate attempts. Kim Leadbeater introduced the original bill in October 2024, and it passed its second reading in the Commons on 29 November 2024 by 330 votes to 275. It then went through committee stage, where MPs examined it line by line, and passed its third reading on 20 June 2025 by 314 votes to 291.

In the House of Lords, however, the bill ran into sustained opposition. Peers tabled around 1,200 amendments, and the bill was still unfinished when the parliamentary session ended in April 2026. Because a private member's bill that has not completed its passage cannot be carried over in the usual way, the original bill fell.

Lauren Edwards, who had come second in the new private member's bill ballot, reintroduced the bill on 17 June 2026. She told the Commons she would ask MPs to send the bill back to the Lords so peers could continue their work of amending and scrutinising it. But when the reintroduced bill came to its second reading on 11 September 2026, MPs voted against it by 286 votes to 270, a majority of sixteen against. Because the bill failed at second reading, it could not proceed to committee stage, report stage or third reading, and it will make no further progress in its current form.

Why did MPs reject the bill?

The sixteen-vote defeat was a reversal of the Commons' earlier position, and it reflected a shift in opinion during the long scrutiny in the Lords. Opponents of the bill argued that the safeguards could not reliably protect vulnerable people from pressure or coercion, and that the six-month prognosis on which eligibility depended was difficult for doctors to predict with certainty. They also warned that the bill would change the relationship between doctors and patients, and that it could put pressure on terminally ill people who felt they were a burden on their families or on the NHS.

Supporters argued that the bill contained some of the strongest safeguards of any assisted dying law in the world, including the two-doctor approval and the multidisciplinary panel, and that it would give dying people choice and control at the end of life. They pointed to polling showing public support for a change in the law, and to the cases of people who had travelled abroad to end their lives because they could not do so at home.

The vote itself was close, and the pattern of voting mattered. Five MPs who had supported the bill at its previous Commons vote switched to oppose it, while dozens of MPs who had voted for it in 2025 did not vote at all on 11 September. No MP who had opposed the bill in 2025 switched to support it. The result showed that support had not just narrowed but had actively fallen away under scrutiny.

What is the law on assisted dying now?

Nothing changed as a result of the vote. Encouraging or assisting another person to end their own life remains a criminal offence in England and Wales under the Suicide Act 1961, punishable by up to fourteen years in prison. The same position applies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where assisted dying is also illegal.

Suicide itself is not a crime in England and Wales, but helping someone else to die is. That distinction is at the heart of the debate: the bill would have created a lawful exception for terminally ill adults who met strict conditions, while leaving the general ban in place. With the bill defeated, the ban stands as before.

People who are terminally ill can still refuse treatment, including treatment that keeps them alive, and doctors can provide palliative care that relieves pain even if it may shorten life. Those rights are already part of the law and were not affected by the vote.

What about Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man?

The picture is different elsewhere in the British Isles. In Scotland, a separate bill, the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill introduced by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, was defeated at its final vote in the Scottish Parliament on 17 March 2026, by 69 votes to 57. Assisted dying therefore remains illegal in Scotland as well.

Jersey became the first part of the British Isles to legalise assisted dying when its law received Royal Assent in July 2026, although services are not expected to begin before 2027. The Isle of Man followed, with its Assisted Dying Act receiving Royal Assent on 20 October 2026. Neither law affects the position in England and Wales, because Jersey and the Isle of Man are Crown Dependencies with their own parliaments and legal systems.

Other countries have already changed their laws. Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and several US states, including Oregon and California, allow some form of assisted dying or euthanasia under varying conditions. Supporters of change in the UK often point to those countries, while opponents point to concerns raised there about the scope of the law widening over time.

Could assisted dying come back to Parliament?

The debate is unlikely to end with this vote. The bill as reintroduced cannot be revived during the current parliamentary session, but a future bill could be introduced through another private member's bill ballot or as government legislation. Campaigners on both sides have said they expect the issue to return.

For now, though, the immediate prospect of a change in the law has receded. One assessment published after the vote suggested that assisted dying was unlikely to return to Parliament before the next general election. The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, abstained in the September vote, saying he did not want to unduly influence the debate, and the government has not committed to bringing forward its own legislation.

What is clear is that the question has not been settled in the public mind. The Commons voted for the bill twice before voting against it, and the margin of defeat was just sixteen votes out of 556 cast. Both sides will be watching closely for the next opportunity to put the question back before Parliament.

Frequently asked questions

Is assisted dying legal in the UK? No. Assisting another person to end their life remains illegal in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland under the Suicide Act 1961, with a maximum penalty of fourteen years in prison.

What did the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill propose? It would have allowed terminally ill adults in England and Wales, aged 18 or over and expected to live for six months or less, to request medical help to end their own lives, subject to approval by two doctors and a multidisciplinary panel, and provided they could take the substance themselves.

Why was the bill rejected? MPs voted against it at second reading on 11 September 2026 by 286 votes to 270. Opponents argued the safeguards could not reliably protect vulnerable people from coercion, while supporters said the safeguards were among the strongest of any assisted dying law in the world.

Where in the British Isles is assisted dying legal? Jersey passed a law that received Royal Assent in July 2026, and the Isle of Man's Assisted Dying Act received Royal Assent on 20 October 2026. Neither law applies in England and Wales, and services in Jersey are not expected to begin before 2027.

Could the bill come back? A future bill could be introduced through another private member's bill ballot or as government legislation, but the defeated bill cannot be revived in its current form during this parliamentary session.

Sources: Legal 500 — Assisted Dying Bill Falls At Second Reading and The Pharmaceutical Journal — Assisted dying bill defeated in House of Commons.