People from Cumbria give their views on the assisted dying after MPs pass the bill

It is the first time in almost a decade assisted dying has been voted on in the House of Commons. Credit: ITV Border.

People from Cumbria have given their views on assisted dying after MPs passed the bill in Parliament.

MPs passed the second reading of the assisted dying bill in Parliament on 29 November 2024. 330 MPs voted for the bill and 275 MPs voted against the bill.

The proposals would give terminally ill people in England and Wales - who have less than six months to live - the right to die at a time of their choosing.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which was published on 11 November 2024, would require two doctors and a High Court judge to sign off on their assisted death.

The debate became the first time in almost a decade assisted dying has been voted on in the House of Commons.

Here's how MPs from Cumbria and the South of Scotland voted:

  • Julie Minns, Labour MP for Carlisle, voted against the bill

  • Josh MacAlister, Labour MP for Workington & Whitehaven, voted to pass the bill.

  • Markus Campbell-Savours, Labour MP for Penrith & Solway, voted to pass the bill.

  • Tim Farron, Liberal Democrats MP for Westmorland & Lonsdale, voted against the bill.

  • David Mundell, Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale, voted against the bill.

  • John Cooper, Conservative MP for Dumfries and Galloway, voted against the bill.

  • John Lamont, Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk, voted against the bill.

Dr Jennifer Corrigan, from Carlisle, supports the assisted dying bill and says people should be able to "die with dignity".

Her mum Winnie died of lung cancer and lived for three months beyond her diagnosis.

However, Jennifer says "from the minute she was given a terminal diagnosis, she asked to die."

"Of course, there's nothing anyone could do to help her or make her wishes come true."

Winnie died from lung cancer. Credit: Family photograph.

Jennifer believes the bill has the right amount of safeguarding in place, she said: "Medicine is about compassion. The nurses were compassionate and the doctors were too.

"At the end of the day, the compassion my mother wanted was not to be in her situation - she was adamant about that.

"The person that makes the decision is the person who's terminally ill. It's not their family. It's not the doctor.

"Now, If I was in the position of my mother, I would like to be given some means of hastening my death so that I could die with dignity."

MPs have five hours to voice their views on the Bill, with a vote set to be called before 2:30pm. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said more than 160 MPs have asked to speak on the issue.

Across the same city, Hannah Norris, who's a wheelchair user, believes the bill becoming law could be a slippery slope, she said: "I'm 67 and I use a wheelchair. I've been disabled since I was 33. I'm a vulnerable person... As someone who suffered from depression on and off most of my life, it would be very easy to sink into thinking that I shouldn't be here anymore.

"And I worry this assisted dying bill could start making people like me feel pressure to get out the way."

In 2016, Hannah's 34-year-old daughter Ellie died from aplastic anemia, a rare blood condition. Years earlier, her late husband Michael died from stomach cancer.

Ellie, 34, died from aplastic anemia in 2016. Credit: Family photograph.

She said: "He was over six foot tall and muscular but he just kind of shrivelled when he was on chemotherapy and he was in terrible pain."

"They said he wasn't going to recover and he just screamed at the doctor, if I was a dog you would have had me put down by now."

The 67-year-old says it was horrible and traumatic to see her family in pain but has 'never changed her mind' on the assisted dying issue.

She said: "A lot of people will disagree with me. What I would say is that we all have a conscience and we have to go by that. For me, as a Christian, somebody taking their life is one thing... helping them do it is a totally different thing."

Rt Rev Rob Saner-Haigh, acting Bishop of Carlisle, said: "So far the people who are proposing the legislation haven't actually satisfactorily answered how we would make sure that somebody was not being coerced. Coercion is something that is often so hidden.

"As a priest and as a bishop, I've spent time with people who were dying or seriously ill, and even those who come from very loving families sometimes feel like a real burden."

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