Medical Treatment (Prevention of Euthanasia) Bill — Continuation of Debate — 14 Apr 2000
The majority of MPs voted to curtail debate on requiring the Consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for a prosecution under the Medical Treatment (Prevention of Euthanasia) Bill. The threshold of 100 MPs required to curtail the debate was not met though.
MPs were considering the Medical Treatment (Prevention of Euthanasia) Bill[1].
The operative clause of the Bill, clause 1, stated:
- It shall be unlawful for any person responsible for the care of a patient to withdraw or withhold from the patient medical treatment or sustenance if his purpose or one of his purposes in doing so is to hasten or otherwise cause the death of the patient.
MPs were specifically considering a proposed new clause titled Consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions stating:
- No prosecution under this Act shall be brought without the prior consent of the Director of Public Prosecution.
This division was on if to curtail the debate. The question supported by the majority of MPs was:
- That the Question be now put
The result of the vote was: Ayes 96, Noes 10. House of Commons Standing Order 37[2] states, in relation to such questions:
- that question shall not be decided in the affirmative unless it appears by the numbers declared from the chair that not fewer than one hundred Members voted in the majority in support of the motion.
As a result the debate continued.
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.
| Party | Majority (Aye) | Minority (No) | Both | Turnout |
| Con | 46 (+1 tell) | 0 | 0 | 29.4% |
| Lab | 39 | 7 (+1 tell) | 0 | 11.3% |
| LDem | 8 | 2 (+1 tell) | 1 | 26.1% |
| UUP | 2 (+1 tell) | 0 | 0 | 30.0% |
| Total: | 95 | 9 | 1 | 17.3% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by party
MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division
Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote
| Name | Constituency | Party | Vote |
| Mr Joe Ashton | Bassetlaw | Lab | tellno |
| Charlotte Atkins | Staffordshire Moorlands | Lab | no |
| Andrew Dismore | Hendon | Lab | no |
| Jim Fitzpatrick | Poplar and Canning Town | Lab | no |
| Mrs Maria Fyfe | Glasgow Maryhill | Lab | no |
| John Healey | Wentworth | Lab | no |
| Mr Brian Sedgemore | Hackney South and Shoreditch | Lab | no |
| Rudi Vis | Finchley and Golders Green | Lab | no |
| Dr Peter Brand | Isle of Wight | LDem | no |
| Mr David Rendel | Newbury | LDem | no |
| Dr Jenny Tonge | Richmond Park | LDem | tellno |
| Evan Harris | Oxford West and Abingdon | LDem | both |