High Peak MP voted for assisted dying but the Bill was not passed by 16 votes

High Peak MP Jon Pearce voted in favour of the bill which would have allowed adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel.

Speaking about the vote Mr Pearce: “If the Bill had passed, it would have legalised assisted dying. It was a very close-run vote, with the final result split by just 16 votes.

“The closeness of the vote very much reflected my own feelings on this.

“I voted for it this year, as I did last year, but not without significant reservations around the safeguards for protecting vulnerable people.”

A similar bill in the last parliamentary session was supported by MPs cleared the House of Commons in June 2025 with a majority of 23.

But it ran out of time to progress through all the necessary stages in Parliament after some peers in the House of Lords tabled more than 1,200 amendments.

The decision from MPs on Friday rules out the prospect of changes to the law on assisted dying in the short-term.

Mr Pearce thanked everyone in High Peak who took the time to contact him, whether in person at his surgeries, coffee mornings or in the street, or in writing.

He said: “I am especially grateful to those who shared their own deeply personal experiences.

“I valued each and every contribution and carefully weighed all the arguments in reaching my decision to vote in favour.”

The MP says while this Bill will now not be going forward, he will continue to champion many of the issues and concerns that people have raised with me as a result of this debate,

“In particular how we improve end-of-life care and deliver the long-overdue reform of our social care system, which I know is a personal priority for the Prime Minister.

“I hope that the cross-party approach seen on both sides of this debate can be harnessed to help find solutions to these difficult issues.”