MPs have narrowly rejected plans to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales – a decision hailed locally by the DUP as “a great day for the protection of life”.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would have allowed mentally competent adults with six months or less to live to seek medical help to end their lives, was defeated in the House of Commons by 286 votes to 270, a majority of 16.
The result is a setback for supporters of reform, coming just months after MPs backed similar proposals by 314 votes to 291 in June 2025. The Bill will not proceed in its current form.
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart, who voted against the legislation along with her DUP colleagues, said: “Today, Parliament chose life.” She argued that the “soft language” of assisted dying masked a reality in which doctors would be allowed to provide lethal drugs, fundamentally changing the patient-doctor relationship and undermining suicide prevention.
“This Bill would have … left vulnerable people, including those with learning difficulties, disabilities or a history of suicidal feelings, exposed to pressure and without adequate safeguards,” she said. “A desire to die can often be a cry for help, driven by financial worries, poor access to care or the fear of becoming a burden. Death must never be presented as an acceptable response to hardship or a lack of support.”
Mrs Lockhart said she opposed the Bill on both practical and faith grounds, insisting life “deserves protection from its beginning to its natural end”. She called for “proper and sustained investment” in palliative and hospice care, pain management and wider support services, adding: “The true measure of a compassionate society is not how easily it facilitates death, but how faithfully it cares for those who are suffering.”
Newry and Armagh DUP MLA Gareth Wilson also welcomed the outcome, describing it as “a victory for the protection of vulnerable people and the value of every human life”.
He said the debate raised fundamental questions about how society values people living with serious illness or disability, and warned that experience in other countries showed a “continual pressure to expand eligibility and weaken safeguards” once assisted dying laws were introduced.
“While there is understandable sympathy for those experiencing pain, suffering, or terminal illness, the answer is not to change the law to facilitate the ending of life,” he said. “Compassion is best shown through care, support and dignity, rather than through assisted death.”
Mr Wilson said it was “disappointing” that Newry and Armagh had “no say” in the Commons vote due to Sinn Féin’s abstentionist policy, but added he was “relieved the right outcome was reached regardless”.
Both representatives praised campaigners, faith groups and others who had contacted MPs urging them to oppose the Bill, and said the focus must now be on improving end-of-life care so that “nobody feels their only option is death because the care and support they need are unavailable”.
