Liberal Democrat MP for Newton Abbot Martin Wrigley was one of 314 MPs to back a bill to legalise assisted dying in a historic vote this afternoon (June 20).

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was passed with a majority of just 23 votes after around four hours of debate. It will now progress to the House where it will face further scrutiny.

If passed, the Bill would enable terminally ill adults in England and Wales, who have less than six months and are deemed to be mentally fit, to get medical assistance to end their lives.

Unusually, for this Bill, MPs were given a ‘free vote’ and were allowed to make their own decision and vote with their conscience rather than having to vote along party lines.

At a previous reading of the Bill last November, MartinWrigley also voted in favour. He told the Mid Devon Advertiser that he had based his vote on meetings he had held ‘with Liz Carr and Prue Leith and after reading hundreds of emails from constituents and listening to the debate’.

Mid Devon MP Mel Stride, a Conservative, also voted in favour of the Bill.