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Hello, I'm Alicia McCarthy.

Thanks for downloading the yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Friday the 20th of June, MPs narrowly backed a bill

to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales,

moving it a step closer to becoming law.

Normally, when a big bill passes, MPs packed onto the Commons Green Benches

let out a huge cheer. This time there was near silence.

The eyes to the right, 314, the nose to the left, 291.

That result came after nearly four hours of debate on Kim Ledbetter's bill,

which would allow terminally ill adults who have no more than six months to live

to end their own lives with medical help.

The legislation has spent the last few months being scrutinised by MPs who've poured over the detail and made changes.

Now, back in the comments for its final big debate, Kim Ledbetter said it was a piece of legislation that Parliament could be proud of.

A cogent, workable bill that has one simple thread running through it.

The need to correct the profound injustices of the status

quo and to offer a compassionate and safe choice to terminally ill people who want to make it.

It was, she said, about justice and human dignity. MPs had been given a free vote, meaning

they could choose for themselves whether to back the bill. The longest serving female MP, Labour's Diane Abbott,

wondered who the legislation provided choice for.

What about people and communities who were vulnerable and marginalised?

I came to this house to be a voice for the voiceless.

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