Rupa Huq Explains Her Assisted Dying Vote

Local MP concerned about impact on non-native speakers

Rupa Huq speaking in the Assisted Dying debate last Friday

June 30, 2025

Rupa Huq, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, has explained her reasons for voting against the Assisted Dying Bill.

She spoke in opposition to the proposal in the House of Commons on Friday (27 June) as months of emotional debates and national discussion culminated in its narrow victory with 314 MPs for and 291 against.

Dr Huq said, “The tight margin it passed by reflects the divided nature of parliament in agreeing any sort of consensus on this issue. The vote has been the most consequential vote in the career of many of the MPs involved. The vote was a great advertisement for our parliamentary system,
600 MPs involving themselves in a well-mannered debate on an issue that has got the nation discussing: how would you vote on assisted dying?”

The MP says the vote was a difficult choice which highlighted her experience in dealing with the social complexities of healthcare. The primary reason for her being unable to support the bill was concern for the way that it might disproportionately affect non-native speakers like her own mother.

She added, “A younger me would have been 100% behind this Bill. I am very pro body autonomy when it comes to abortion, but ten years of being an MP has exposed me to coercion, duress, the billionaire price of London property, and elder abuse.”

Her reservations with the bill were practical seeing how those who are not native speakers might have their agency denied by health professionals in an overwhelmed system. She highlighted that in our current healthcare system ethnic minorities already suffer health inequalities so she questions, why would assisted dying be any different? She felt, given these nuances, the time spent on the bill seemed rushed and inadequate for what was literally a matter of life and death.

During the debate in parliament, the local MP cited her personal experiences of this, “My mum’s GP had a clear contempt for her accented words. At every appointment she would say to her, ‘One question only’. As my mum grew frailer and began to lose the power of speech, she reverted to her mother tongue and was seen by hospital teams as an annoyance, a time waster, and bed blocker.”

She observed that while the scene from campaigners outside the House of Parliament was one of jubilation and relief, as the result of the vote was announced, the mood inside Parliament was a more muted.

The bill now enters the House of Lords where it will receive further scrutiny. How much it can be changed or indeed, whether or not it can be blocked is unclear. As a Private Member’s Bill, that was not part of a party manifesto and passed by such a narrow margin, it is far from certain that it will ever form the basis of a new law.