What happens next after historic Assisted Dying vote?

The battle has been won but the war goes on after MPs historically voted in favour of assisted dying in the UK.

Today’s momentous result is only the first of many hurdles to overcome before the changes become law.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is a private member’s bill, meaning it has been introduced by an MP – Kim Leadbeater – who is not a government minister.

To become law it must go through the same stages as a government bill, including second reading, committee stage, report and third reading in both the Commons and the Lords, followed by Royal Assent.

This will take many, many months.

However, there are many pitfalls to overcome along the way, including concerns over whether MPs will be able to properly scrutinise this particular bill.

These include the limited amount of time – 13 Fridays in a parliamentary session – generally available for the Commons to consider private members’ bills.

There’s also the risk of the bill being “talked out” in the chamber at either second reading or report stage, either because of the number of MPs who wish to speak or because of those making deliberately long speeches.

There have also been calls for the government to commit – before second reading – to making extra time available for the remaining stages of the bill.

However, the government has so far declined to give such a commitment.

The last Commons debate and vote on the law was in 2015 when, on a free vote, the Commons voted against giving the Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill 2015 a second reading by 330 votes to 118.

This was also a private member’s bill, introduced by Rob Marris MP, but this did not attract any notable criticism or concerns at the time.

If and when it does become law, health minister Stephen Kinnock – son of former Labour leader Neil – will be in charge of developing his department’s assisted dying strategy.

This is despite his boss Wes Streeting’s best attempts to scupper the bill.

Streeting insisted he would not resign if the bill becomes law, while allies of Shabana Mahmood, justice secretary, said she would not quit even though she has said that “the state should never offer death as a service”.

Streeting’s allies say the health secretary would immediately go into a “make it work” mindset and that he would engage constructively with the legislation.

Kinnock, the minister responsible for palliative care, would be designated as the Department of Health’s lead minister, supported by Streeting.

Downing Street has confirmed that all ministers would be expected to respect the result of today’s vote.

It is understood that the government will carry out an impact assessment if the bill passes its second reading – the point at which MPs express their view on the principle of the legislation.

How such a law would work in practice poses substantial questions for the NHS, as a publicly funded healthcare system under enormous strain, as well as for the court system, because judges are supposed to sign off each individual case. 

Earlier this month Streeting controversially said that he had commissioned a review of the costs of providing assisted dying services on the NHS, warning that any change in the law would involve “choices and trade-offs”. 

Doctors unions are calling for assisted dying services to be organised separately from normal NHS care.