Coroners and Justice Bill — New Clause — Assisted Suicide — 7 Jul 2009 at 20:03

The majority of members of the House of Lords voted against legalising assisting suicide in relation to terminally ill people who had declared their wish to die and wished to travel to a place assisted dying is lawful so they can end their lives.

The new clause rejected in this vote was titled: "Acts not capable of encouraging or assisting suicide" and stated:

  • (1) An act by an individual ("D") is not to be treated as capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide or attempted suicide of another adult ("T") if—
  • (a) the act is done solely or principally for the purpose of enabling or assisting T to travel to a country or territory in which assisted dying is lawful;
  • (b) prior to the act, two registered medical practitioners, independent of each other, have certified that they are of the opinion in good faith that T is terminally ill and has the capacity to make the declaration under subsection (2); and
  • (c) prior to the act, T has made a declaration under subsection (2).
  • (2) A declaration by T is made under this subsection if the declaration—
  • (a) is made freely in writing and is signed by T (or is otherwise recorded and authenticated if T is incapable of signing it),
  • (b) states that T—
  • (i) has read or been informed of the contents of the certificates under subsection (1)(b), and
  • (ii) has decided to travel to a country or territory falling within subsection (1)(a) for the purpose of obtaining assistance in dying, and
  • (c) is witnessed by an independent witness chosen by T.
  • (3) "Independent witness" means a person who is not—
  • (a) likely to obtain any benefit from the death of T; or
  • (b) a close relative or friend of T; or
  • (c) involved in caring for T.
  • (4) D is not to be treated as having done an act capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide or attempted suicide of T by virtue of being with T when, in a country or territory falling within subsection (1)(a), T takes steps (including steps taken with the assistance of D) to commit suicide by lawful means.

Debate in Parliament | Source |

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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 is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (Not-Content)Minority (Content)Turnout
Bishop5 020.0%
Con76 1646.5%
Crossbench36 (+2 tell) 2533.9%
DUP2 066.7%
Independent Labour1 0100.0%
Judge1 06.7%
Lab42 65 (+2 tell)50.0%
LDem22 2765.3%
UUP1 0100.0%
Total:186 13344.7%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

Lords 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 lord who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Party | Vote

NamePartyVote
The Earl of ArranConaye
Lord Baker of DorkingCon (front bench)aye
Lord Bowness Con (front bench)aye
Lord Brougham and Vaux Con (front bench)aye
Lord Chadlington Conaye
Baroness Flather Conaye
Lord Freud Conaye
Lord Geddes Con (front bench)aye
Lord Hodgson of Astley AbbottsConaye
Lord Laing of DunphailConaye
Lord Lawson of BlabyCon (front bench)aye
The Earl of LindsayConaye
Lord Lucas Con (front bench)aye
Lord MacGregor of Pulham MarketCon (front bench)aye
Lord Mancroft Conaye
Lord Montagu of BeaulieuConaye
Lord Norton of LouthCon (front bench)aye
Baroness Boothroyd Crossbenchaye
Lord Broers Crossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Burns Crossbenchaye
Lord Butler of BrockwellCrossbenchaye
Lord Cobbold Crossbenchaye
Viscount Craigavon Crossbenchaye
Baroness D'Souza Crossbench (front bench)aye
The Earl of ErrollCrossbench (front bench)aye
Baroness Greengross Crossbenchaye
Lord Hannay of ChiswickCrossbenchaye
Lord Joffe Crossbenchaye
Lord Kerr of KinlochardCrossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Low of DalstonCrossbench (front bench)aye
Lord McCluskey Crossbenchaye
Baroness Meacher Crossbenchaye
Lord Monson Crossbenchaye
Lord Moser Crossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Pannick Crossbench (front bench)aye
Baroness Prashar Crossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Quirk Crossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Rees of LudlowCrossbenchaye
Lord Robertson of Port EllenCrossbenchaye
Baroness Stern Crossbenchaye
Lord Sutherland of HoundwoodCrossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Turnbull Crossbenchaye
Baroness Warnock Crossbenchaye
Baroness Young of HornseyCrossbenchaye
Baroness Adams of CraigieleaLabno
Lord Adonis Lab (minister)no
Lord Ahmed Labno
Lord Anderson of SwanseaLab (minister)no
Lord Bach Lab (minister)no
Lord Bilston Labno
Lord Brennan Labno
Lord Brooke of AlverthorpeLabno
Lord Brookman Labno
Lord Campbell-Savours Lab (minister)no
Lord Christopher Lab (minister)no
Lord Clarke of HampsteadLabno
Baroness Corston Labno
Baroness Crawley Lab (minister)no
Lord Darzi of DenhamLab (minister)no
Lord Davies of CoityLab (minister)no
Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-FyldeLabno
Lord Filkin Lab (minister)no
Baroness Ford Labno
Baroness Gale Labno
Lord Gordon of StrathblaneLabno
Lord Griffiths of Burry PortLabno
Lord Howarth of NewportLabno
Baroness Howells of St DavidsLabno
Lord Irvine of LairgLab (minister)no
Lord Jones Labno
Baroness Kennedy of The ShawsLabno
Lord Kirkhill Labno
Lord Lea of CrondallLabno
Lord Lofthouse of PontefractLabno
Baroness McDonagh Labno
Lord Morris of HandsworthLab (minister)no
Baroness Morris of YardleyLabno
Lord Rea Labno
Lord Rooker Lab (minister)no
Lord Rowlands Lab (minister)no
Baroness Scotland of AsthalLab (minister)no
Lord Strabolgi Labno
Lord Tomlinson Lab (minister)no
Lord Tunnicliffe Lab (minister)no
Lord Turnberg Labno
Baroness Uddin Labno
Baroness Wilkins Labno
Lord Williams of ElvelLab (minister)no
Lord Burnett LDem (front bench)no
Lord Carlile of BerriewLDem (front bench)no
Lord Chidgey LDemno
Lord Cotter LDem (front bench)no
Viscount Falkland LDem (front bench)no
Baroness Falkner of MargravineLDem (front bench)no
Lord Lee of TraffordLDem (front bench)no
Lord Livsey of TalgarthLDem (front bench)no
Lord Maclennan of RogartLDem (front bench)no
Baroness Maddock LDem (front bench)no
The Earl of Mar and KellieLDem (front bench)no
Lord McNally LDem (front bench)no
Lord Methuen LDem (front bench)no
Baroness Neuberger LDem (front bench)no
Baroness Nicholson of WinterbourneLDemno
Lord Roberts of LlandudnoLDem (front bench)no
Baroness Scott of Needham MarketLDem (front bench)no
Lord Shutt of GreetlandLDem (front bench)no
Lord Thomas of GresfordLDem (front bench)no
Lord Tordoff LDem (front bench)no
Lord Tyler LDem (front bench)no
Baroness Williams of CrosbyLDemno

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