Assisted dying: SDLP MP Colum Eastwood votes for the bill

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said there were “no assurances about the safeguards” provided in the legislation.

The East Belfast MP said that because the legislation was introduced as a private members’ bill rather than government legislation, it was “devoid of any information, consultation, white paper (or) pre-legislative scrutiny”.

“We do not have the opportunity to consider impact reports, all of which would be normal under normal legislative conditions.”

Robinson said it was an “extraordinary” way to present “such a seismic proposal, a proposal that will turn caregivers into killers.”

Robinson said that while many of his concerns with the legislation were about “process,” he said, “I can’t think of a process by which I would support this proposal.”

Describing himself as “pro-life”, Robinson said that if someone was suffering, he would want to “ease the pain and the burden, but I wouldn’t want to end their life.”