BOTH of the region’s MPs voted against the historic assisted dying bill in the House of Commons last Friday.
Friday’s session saw an emotionally charged debate that lasted for five hours with many MPs sharing anecdotes and personal experiences with death.
Since it was a free vote, members had to consider the bill and vote according to their own beliefs.
David Mundell and John Cooper were among the 275 MPs who voted against the bill which could legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people.
Although the Bill passed with a majority of 55 votes, it still needs to go through several steps before becoming law.
Commenting on the reasoning behind his vote Mr Mundell said: “I voted no, not just because I was unhappy about the procedure to date, but because I’m not satisfied that there are sufficient safeguards in the Bill against coercion.
“However the Bill passed at this stage and I respect that. It will now go into a committee, of course I’ll look at the amendments that come forward. But if I remain dissatisfied with the provisions and feel that coercion has not been properly dealt with, then I will be voting against the bill at its subsequent stages.”
Speaking after the debate Mr Cooper added: “It’s very difficult, we heard lots of reassurances in there that the committee state that would see the potential for change, I hope that’s the case. I hope they take the views from across the house, so a very long way to go here, but we are now in a different place, assisted dying is coming and it’s a different Britain now.”
