Wales's Senedd has voted to approve the implementation of Westminster's assisted dying bill, with members backing the legislation by 28 votes to 23 and two abstentions. The vote, held on Tuesday night in the newly expanded chamber, was a legislative consent memorandum, a process used when UK legislation touches on devolved matters. It did not address the legitimacy of the bill but rather whether the service should be available on the Welsh NHS.
The timing of the vote was unusual, with Labour, Conservative and Plaid Cymru members given a free vote, making the outcome hard to predict. The Senedd had previously rejected assisted dying in principle in both 2024 and 2014, with many abstentions. Several members argued the vote should have been deferred until after the bill had progressed through the House of Lords, when it would be clearer what Wales would be consenting to.
Constitutional concerns were central to the debate. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, criminal law, including suicide law, is devolved, but in Wales it is not, creating what experts have called one of the worst criminal justice systems in Europe. A Plaid Cymru amendment criticised the lack of thorough consideration of the constitutional implications of the bill for Wales. Adam Price, the member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr and former Plaid Cymru leader, said the motion placed the Senedd in an invidious position, but withholding consent would abandon Wales to a private-only system and a version of assisted dying that is lawful but unregulated.
Before the debate, Welsh health secretary Jeremy Miles warned that if the Senedd rejected the legislation, private providers might have been able to offer assisted dying services in Wales, or those seeking to end their lives would have to travel to England. The landmark bill, which would allow terminally ill people in England and Wales to obtain a medically assisted death, was passed by MPs in November. However, peers in the Lords have proposed more than 900 amendments, making it unclear whether the bill can pass both houses before the May deadline when the current parliamentary session ends. Should it pass the Lords, the matter will require another Senedd vote after May's Welsh elections.
