Jersey votes to allow assisted dying

Jersey has voted to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults, becoming the second of the British Isles to do so after the Isle of Man.

Members of the States Assembly voted in May 2024 in favour of drawing up laws for an assisted dying service in the Crown Dependency.

The vote on Thursday, after three days of debate, was 32 in favour and 16 against. The bill will now go for royal assent.

Under the bill, a person with a terminal illness "who is experiencing or is expected to experience unbearable physical suffering" and die within six months, or 12 months with certain neurodegenerative conditions, will be able to choose to end their own life.

In order to be eligible, the person will also need to have been a resident of Jersey for 12 months.

Campaigners in favour hope a service can be in place by the end of summer 2027.

As a Crown Dependency, for primary legislation to get royal assent and become law, the Lord Chancellor - currently David Lammy - is required to make a recommendation that it should do so.

In March last year, the Tynwald in the Isle of Man became the first parliament in the British Isles to agree a framework for assisted dying.

But the process of getting that framework on the statute book is yet to be finalised.

Alex Allinson, who is behind the Isle of Man's legislation, has expressed concern at the lengthy delay his bill has faced in gaining royal assent.

He cautioned that after royal assent, "a lot of work" is still required before a service is up and running, including setting up support systems for patients, families and medical staff on the island.

A UK government spokesperson said the length of processing time "depends on the complexities and sensitivities of a bill, as well as any legal and constitutional issues".

The Jersey legislation would allow a doctor or registered nurse to administer lethal drugs. This is in contrast to the assisted dying bill being considered at Westminster, which states that terminally ill adults must take an approved substance themselves.

Earlier on Thursday, Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates revealed on his podcast Politics at Sam and Anne's that the Westminster assisted dying bill was likely to fall because the government will not grant it extra debate time.

Supporters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would apply to England and Wales and is continuing to undergo scrutiny in the House of Lords, have accused some opponents of trying to "talk out" the contentious legislation.

However, many peers insist they are simply doing their job of scrutinising a bill, which they argue is unsafe in its current form and needs to be strengthened.

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Lord Falconer said peers' attempts to filibuster are "not the end of the road" for the draft law because of plans to invoke the Parliament Act.

The Labour former minister, who is sponsoring the bill in the upper chamber, added: "The Lords prides itself on focusing on the things that matter and that most certainly is not what's been going on here.

"So, the tragedy is that a small number of people in the Lords are blocking a bill that has passed in the Commons.

"You've got the Commons, the Jersey parliament, and the Isle of Man parliament all passing it, and it's the Lords that are blocking it in England and Wales."

On Tuesday, Welsh politicians in the Senedd voted to give their legislative consent for the UK Parliament to pass the bill.

And north of the border, the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill is expected to be voted on at Holyrood next month.

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