Assisted dying bill: How Suffolk MPs Peter Prinsley, Jess Asato, Nick Timothy, Jack Abbott, Patrick Spencer, Adrian Ramsey, James Cartlidge and Jenny Riddell-Carpenter voted

Parliament voted today to accept the third reading of the assisted dying bill.

Titled in full the ‘Terminally Ill Adults (End Of Life) Bill’, 314 MPs voted in favour of the motion while 291 voted no –a majority of 23.

Suffolk’s MPs were involved in the decision, which was allowed as ‘conscience vote’; this means the different parties did not ‘whip’ their representatives into voting in a certain way, but they were ‘free’ to vote for what they felt was right for them and their constituents.

Here’s how our elected members voted on the bill:

Peter Prinsley, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Lab) – For

Nick Timothy, West Suffolk (Cons) – Against

Jack Abbott, Ipswich (Lab) – For

Patrick Spencer, Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Ind) – Against

Jess Asato, Lowestoft (Lab) – Against

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, Suffolk Coastal (Lab) – For

Adrian Ramsay, Waveney Valley (Green) – For

James Cartlidge, South Suffolk (Cons) – For

In total, five of our MPs voted for the bill while three voted against.

Dr Prinsley told SuffolkNews, at a previous reading of the bill, that early in his medical career he was against assisted dying, but his view had since changed over the years having seen people at the end of their lives.

He said, addressing the view that improving end-of-life care would be an alternative to the bill, Mr Prinsley said: “It is complementary to palliative care, not an alternative.”