The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was approved by 314 votes to 291 at its third reading in the House of Commons – a majority of 23.
Politics Live: MPs back legalising assisted dying in historic Commons vote
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who proposed the legislation, was seen crying in the chamber as it went through.
Campaign group Dignity in Dying hailed the result as “a landmark moment for choice, compassion and dignity at the end of life”.
“MPs have listened to dying people, to bereaved families and to the public, and have voted decisively for the reform that our country needs and deserves,” said Sarah Wootton, its chief executive.
“This vote will go down in history as the moment parliament finally caught up with the public”
The bill will now go to the House of Lords, where it will face further scrutiny before becoming law.
It would allow terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.
MPs have deliberated the proposals for months, with a vote in November passing with a bigger majority of 55.
Since then it has undergone some significant changes, the most controversial being the replacement of a High Court Judge’s approval with the expert panel.
Ms Leadbeater has always insisted her legislation would have the most robust safeguards of any assisted dying laws in the world.
Opening the debate on Friday she said that opposing the bill “is not a neutral act. It is a vote for the status quo”.
She warned that if her plan was rejected, MPs would be asked to vote on it again in 10 years time and “that fills me with despair”.
“There are essentially two ways we can look at the situation we’re in,” she said.
“We can look through a legal lens. As legislators, we have a duty to change the law where it is failing and when the last four directors of public prosecutions tell us that the law needs to change, surely we have a duty to listen?
“Most importantly, there is the human lens, which is how I approach most things. Giving dying people choice about how they die is about compassion, control, dignity, and bodily autonomy. Surely we should all have the right.”
The assisted dying debate was last heard in the Commons in 2015, when it was defeated by 330 votes to 118.
There have been calls for a change in the law for decades, with a campaign by Broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen giving the issue renewed attention in recent years.
However there is also strong opposition to the bill, for a variety of ethical and practical reasons.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Pathologists and the Royal College of Physicians all raised concerns ahead of today’s vote.
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