Assisted suicide

Laws to legalise assisted suicide were defeated in Scotland and Westminster during 2015 but fresh attempts to remove end-of-life protections from the vulnerable reoccur regularly.

England and Wales

On Friday 20 June 2025, the House of Commons voted to advance Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill, with 314 MPs voting in favour and 291 against. This is less than half the majority than MPs’ first vote the previous year (330 to 275).

In the intervening period, the backbench MP’s Private Member’s Bill was examined at Committee Stage and Report Stage, but few amendments to strengthen safeguards were accepted, while other safeguards were stripped away. MPs rejected amendments to protect those struggling with mental illness, financial pressure, or concerns about being a burden.

The legislation is now being considered by the House of Lords. Over one thousand amendments have been tabled to counter the flaws of the Bill, so many that the Government added ten further days to consider the Bill and the time of each debate has been extended. The sessions continue into April. If scrutiny is not complete before Parliament rises for the King’s Speech — expected in May — the Bill will fall.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow those in England and Wales deemed to be terminally ill and with less than six months to live to receive help to kill themselves.

Scotland

On 17 March 2026, the Scottish Parliament rejected an attempt to legalise assisted suicide for the third time in sixteen years. MSPs defeated Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill by 69 votes to 57, with one abstention. The proposals, which would have legalised assisted suicide for adults deemed to be terminally ill with less than six months to live, sparked fierce opposition from politicians, medical experts, commentators and religious groups.

During the final debate of the Bill, Former First Minister Humza Yousaf explained that while he had seen his uncle die a slow death that was hard to observe as a family member, he felt there is still far too much room for self-coercion in the Bill.

“If to give a small minority this option, we create a law under which even one person ends their life because they feel guilty, dependent, or like a burden, then this parliament will not have made compassionate law, it will have made dangerous law.”

Lethal drugs

In October 2021, Dr Joel Zivot, Associate Professor of Anaesthesiology and Surgery at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia spoke to the Institute debunking the claim that assisted suicide is a peaceful death. His evidence is based on his own review of autopsy reports from executions in the United States.

Isle of Man

In March 2025, the Isle of Man’s Parliament passed a Bill to legalise assisted suicide. The Private Member’s Bill proposed by Ramsey MHK Alex Allinson will allow terminally ill residents to be given lethal drugs to end their own lives. After receiving Royal Assent, the Bill could come into effect as early as 2027.

Jersey

Politicians in Jersey have voted to legalise assisted suicide on the island. The first assisted suicides are expected to happen as soon as 2027, open to terminally ill adults who are expected to die within six months, or 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative condition.

The legislation also makes provisions for euthanasia, where a doctor or nurse may directly administer the lethal drugs to end the life of their patient.

2015

In May, 2015 MSPs voted comprehensively against the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill by 82 votes to 36. The Bill sought to allow people as young as 16 to get help to kill themselves.

Those voting against the Bill included First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour Kezia Dugdale and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson.

Then in September 2015 at Westminster, MPs voted 330 to 118 against Rob Marris’ Private Members’ Bill.

The result came following pressure from disabled rights groups, the medical profession, a number of charities and religious leaders.

Serious concerns had been raised that legalising assisted suicide would pressurise the sick, elderly and vulnerable into ending their lives for fear of being a burden. Many pointed to the incremental extension of the practice in Europe, and the absence of genuine safeguards.