Politics latest: Starmer votes in favour as assisted dying bill advances after historic vote (2024)

Thank you for joining us for a momentous day in Westminster. We'll be back on Sunday morning for all the latest.

But until then, you can scroll through the page to catch up on today.

No one is taking today's result lightly. Labour MP Jake Richards, who voted for assisted dying, tells me he feels a "weight of responsibility" to make sure the bill is right.

He says he feels "confident" it will get through parliament, but work needs to be done now with the MPs who didn't back it.

Labour MP Dawn Butler, who voted against, sighs as she walks past.

"We've got the third reading so let's see," she says. The sense I get here is that some of those who voted against are not giving up yet.

"Big day", shadow minister Matt Vickers tells me. He says he was conflicted, and had not made his mind up until the last moment, but voted against today.

New Labour MP, and former nurse who voted for assisted dying, Kevin McKenna describes the debate as "intense".

He says "a lot of us new MPs haven't really had to go through the committee stage like this and really scrutinise legislation, so we need to make sure we get it right".

He says there is now "a lot of pressure on Kim [Leadbeater]".

As we continue to crunch the numbers here at Sky News on the historic vote in parliament backing assisted dying, we noticed a peculiar thing - one MP voted both for and against the bill.

Emma Hardy, the Labour MP forKingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice, was the member concerned, and as she has voted twice, the votes cancel each other out.

It is not the usual way of abstaining, and Commons Speakers have disapproved of the practice going back decades, but it continues to be used by some.

Ms Hardy has explained why she voted this way in a post on social media, saying it is a "deeply personal issue for me, one that I have struggled with".

"It strikes at the heart of my fundamental desire to both ease suffering and protect the most vulnerable in society, goals that, at times, seem to conflict in these discussions," she said.

She went on to say that she believes "everyone deserves dignity in dying", and has "the right to a good death".

But there are inconsistencies in the law in that area, and she does not believe the bill "fully addresses the complex realities of a legal right to assisted dying".

Ms Hardy, who also serves as a government minister, went on to say that existing health inequalities is one of her "biggest concerns", along with it becoming the only option for some people, that some may feel pressured by doctors, as well as the process of approving someone's request for an assisted death.

Explaining her final decision, she wrote: "While these concerns have made me lean towards voting against the bill, I have chosen to abstain.

"My reason for this is simple: voting against it at this stage could close down the debate for another decade.

"To record my active abstention, I had to vote both for and against this bill, which is why my name will appear on both lists."

The MP who proposed the changes to assisted dying laws, Kim Leadbeater, has been seen outside parliament.

There were campaigners on both sides of the issue in Westminster as MPs debated and voted.

Ms Leadbeater joined those from her side of the discourse after the assisted dying laws passed their first hurdle.

One of the most vocal campaigners in favour of the assisted dying movement is Dame Esther Rantzen, the television presenter.

Speaking to Sky News, she says she has not spoken to the prime minister during the debate.

She says she has been trying to find a phone number to Downing Street to thank Sir Keir Starmer.

"I think he's behaved admirably because I know that he supports a change in the law because I know as [director of public prosecutions] he found it very messy, very crude, and sometimes very cruel," she says.

"So I know he didn't feel it was working at all, and thought it should be changed.

"But he also recognised that it is a matter of conscience - there were some people who, for faith reasons or other reasons, will oppose it.

"And so he was determined that it shouldn't be a political issue, it should be a free vote, so he didn't talk about the way he felt.

"And I think that was quite right, because he didn't want to influence anyone else."

Danny Kruger was the leading MP on the side of those opposed to introducing assisted dying laws.

He spoke topolitical editor Beth Rigbyafter the results of today's votes.

Mr Kruger said he was disappointed - but encouraged - after the events of today.

He says it was parliament "doing its job".

"I'm very sorry that I and others didn't manage to persuade enough colleagues to win, but what really did come across is that everybody agrees we need to improve palliative care, which is my main concern," he added.

Mr Kruger framed the day as having a lot of MPs wanting to take a closer look at the legislation as it goes through the next parliamentary stages.

"So there will be a further opportunity to improve it if we can," he says.

"And if we can't, then I hope we'll be able to reject it."

Asked by Beth if he could be persuaded, Mr Kruger says it is "impossible to write a law that is safe".

But he adds: "if it's going to pass, I still think we can stop it. And I'm going to try.

"But if we're going to pass it, let's try to make it as safe as possible."

Now that MPs have voted to give the assisted dying bill a second reading, what are the next stages of its passage through parliament?

Committee stage

The next stage in the passage of the bill is called the 'committee stage', which means a detailed, line by line examination of the bill takes place by a committee of MPs.

For this particular bill, MPs also approved a motion to allow the committee to have the power to send for people, papers and records as part of its sessions, meaning it can take evidence formally from experts.

Report stage

Once the committee stage is concluded, the bill will move to the report stage, where MPs will also be able to propose amendments.

A debate will take place in the Commons over more than a day, although it usually lasts between three and five hours.

Third reading

At third reading, MPs have the final opportunity to debate the bill before the report stage ends.

If it passes third reading, it will then be sent to the House of Lords, where peers will be able to table their own amendments.

If peers do make changes to the bill, it will then go back to the Commons for consideration. If MPs agree, the bill will be given royal assent and become law.

Otherwise, the usual 'ping-pong' process for agreeing a final version of the bill will take place before it receives royal assent.

Frank Sutton has terminal stage liver disease, as well as cancer, and is a supporter of introducing assisted dying.

She spoke to Sky News health correspondent Ashish Joshi after the vote in the Commons.

Ms Sutton says she burst into tears when the vote passed earlier today.

She says that it is unlikely the full law will be enacted in her lifetime - but she is happy for those in her position and people she's met in her hospice.

"I think this bill going through is going to make it easier for families, patients, and just make it more dignified and lawful," Ms Sutton says.

"I can die in peace now", she adds.

"The legislation might not be through, but knowing that it's going to go through and, knowing that in my mind, it's just going to be more peaceful for me because I don't know what's going to happen.

"And it's not all about pain. It's about physical ability. It's about being able to do things, you know, in your dying days.

"Not just taking morphine. You know, it's about going out in a wheelchair and walking my dogs with my husband.

"It's about the finishing off a felting project or something.

"It's a lot more than just pain".

She adds that "a lot was said" in the debate about managing pain.

Ms Sutton says the point was made that "if pain can be managed, then quality of life can be managed".

"However, if you don't have quality of life, you don't have a life," she counters.

The terminal patient says she felt a lot of MPs making their speeches had preambles that sounded like they support assisted dying - but then said they didn't

"It's quite difficult to believe their arguments," she finished.

Watch the full interview below...

By Ashish Joshi, health correspondent

It is the biggest societal change in more than half a century.

Terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of six months or less will for the first time be allowed an assisted death to end their suffering.

Kim Leadbeater's bill has cleared the first and most important hurdle. And unless there's a dramatic intervention it is expected to become law.

There have been few issues more polarising or more controversial than this one. And as the day of the vote neared, the debates raging online, on TV and on radio became more bitter and more heated.

Those deeply entrenched on both sides were never going to shift their positions, guided either by religion, ethics or the personal experience of seeing a loved one wither away during a prolonged, agonising death.

Ultimately, they did not matter. Yes, they would lobby their MPs at hastily convened town halls and make their feelings felt, but in the end each individual MP likely voted according to their own conscience.