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How did Salford MPs vote on the ‘assisted dying’ Bill?

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Assisted Dying Bill

After a controversial debate, MPs in the House of Commons voted in favour of the ‘assisted dying’ Bill, but how did MPs across Salford vote?

The Bill, otherwise known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, if passed would put in place legislation that will legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults, subject to safeguards and protections.

The Bill, if passed would make it legal for over-18s who are terminally ill to be given assistance to end their own life.

However, those who may seek ‘assisted dying’ if the Bill is passed will still have to go through many requirements to do so.

These include being expected to die within six months, and two independent doctors must be satisfied the person is eligible.

As well as appearing in front of a High Court judge, who must hear from at least one of the doctors and can also question the dying person, or anyone else they consider appropriate.

The decisions made by Parliament saw the house split with 330 in favour to 275 against, which came after five hours of passionate debate.

With the votes seeing the Bill move into the next phase of the process – so how did the MPs across Salford vote?

Across Salford four MPs cover the entire city, whether in the Salford constituencies or the neighbouring Bolton South and Bury South.

The Bolton South region contains areas such as Little Hulton, and Walkden North, whilst the Walkden South and Bury South constituency contain Kersal and Broughton Park wards.

The Salford’s MPs represented the divisive nature of the bill with two of them voting in favour of the Bill and two voting against.

Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles, Michael Wheeler, also supported the Bill. He said on X that “it was not an easy decision”, adding that “this isn’t the end of the process” and encouraged people from both sides of the argument to contact him with any of their concerns.

And these views were shared by Christian Wakeford, Labour MP for Bury South which covers Kersal area, voted in favour of the Bill. He said: “People deserve dignity in dying, and each person nearing the end of their life should feel reassured and safe in the knowledge they will receive the very best care.”

On the opposing side, Independent MP for Salford Rebecca Long-Bailey, voted against the Bill and expressed her concerns on the bill’s safeguards and definitions.

assisted dying vote
Rebecca Long-Bailey
Credit: Rwendland

She said: “I am concerned that experts’ opinions can often differ on what is terminal and upon life expectancy itself, and so the definition in the Bill is not robust enough.

“The Bill does not provide adequate guidelines and regulations for ensuring the person wanting to end their life is not doing so as a result of coercion or from a feeling that they are a burden to their families.”

And these views were shared by the Labour MP for Bolton South and Walkden, Yasmin Qureshi also voted against the Bill, having experience of caring for terminally ill family members, she expressed her concerns around the Bill.

She said: “I was not convinced that the safeguards would prevent the elderly or vulnerable from feeling like a burden on their loved ones, and that they may feel pressured into choosing to end their life.

She also believes that the NHS does not have the right levels of palliative care available for the Bill. She said:

“Until we reach a stage where our palliative care and hospice system is fully funded and in a position to provide the high-quality palliative care to terminally-ill adults that would alleviate suffering.”

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