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bbc this. >> we' not talking about the choice between life and death. we are giving dying people a choice of how to die. >> we stand on the brink of abandoning that role. >>y love. thousands of people will not get to choose how they die. that means more to me. >> it is not the end of the road. we still have chances to listen to the very real concerns. >> this is a profoundly important moment for the terminally ill, their families and society. it says england and wales on the path the joint countries which allow choice at the end of life. ♪ >> welcome to the program.

mp's take a momentous first step to legalize assisted dying in england and wales. we will hear from both sides of the debate. also, thousands on the street into policing -- policing to protest moves to join the european union. ukraine's president suggests he's prepared to end the hot phase of the ukraine more in return for nato membership, even if russia does not immediate he returned seized land. we start in the u.k. mp's have taken a historic step towards legalizing assisted dying in england and wales. there were five hours of highly impassioned and emotiol debate among mp's and parliament. the result could mark on the biggest social changes the country has seen for decades. 330 in favor of the bill, 275 against. a majority of 55 represent the

first step in giving terminally ill people the right to choose to end their own life. in recognition of the magnitude of their decision, the result was met by mp's not with cheers of approval but with complete silence. it was a free vote, meaning they can vote with their conscious as opposed to following party orders. vicki young reports now. >> our voice, our choice. >> they came to have their say. to make their final plea stampede -- pleas to mp's. powerful voices and personally spent is on both sides of this debate. >> county this. it is the wrong way to do. they are playing roulette with our lives and the future and they should stop. >> for others it's about choosing the way they will die. jenny has terminal cancer. >> changing the law to find a more humane way to die, to allow my children to see me in a

peaceful state will be so much better for them. >> porter. -- order. >> mp's have no party orders to follow. >> anyone of us or our loved ones could be unlucky enough to receive a terminal diagnosis. i struggle to see how it is fair or just to deny anyone the autonomy, dignity and personal choice we met with the take control of our final weeks. >> many mp's worry some terminally of patients will be pressured into taking this path. >> people do not generally write letters to sick relatives urging them to consider assisted suicide and then put the letter on fire. and coercion in the family context can be about what will you say but more about what you

don't say. >> mary kelly spoke about maria, her leg disabled daughter. >> i am filled with dread and fear for those other people like maria who are nonverbal and don't have that capacity and what might happen to others like maria if they aren't loved and cared for. >> there are limits to pallet of care -- palliative care. >> others focused on pain that cannot be alleviated. >> we can offer over agency. no alternative to this terrifying death. can we truly say that is compassionate? >> if we don't pass the bill we are cornering all those people. we are tracking them with the law against their disease and consigning them to an end of torture and degradation which they do not wish to go through. whatever happens today, terminal people will still take their own lives. all we are deciding today is

how. >> the patchy provision of end-of-life care was a concern for several mp's. >> you can be certain, absolutely certain that this nhs trusts with the weakest offer will be those with the highest incidences of people choosing to. it was not really their choice at all. >> when i was six years old -- >> marie was in hospital and in pain. she recalls telling her parents she wanted to die. >> that moment made it clear to me that if the bill was about intolerable suffering, i would not be voting for it. but that moment also gave me a glimpse of how i would want to live my death. just as i live my life. empowered by choices available to me. living that death with the dignity and respect. >> it is the debate that is not happen often here. personal, emotional and repercussions for millions. >> porter -- order.

>> the result was heard in silence by mp's crammed into the commons. >> ayes to the right, 330. nos, 275. >> for the mp behind the building was a sense of relief. >> a bit overwhelmed to be honest. it's been a really emotional day on top of an emotional number of months. i never even wanted to be an mp. we showed power in its best light. respectful, compassionate debate. respecting the different views people hold. >> the bill has passed its first hurdle but will now be months of debate as they pour over the details. it heralds a huge societal change in the way the terminally ill approach their final days. >> today they approve the principal of assisted dying. now parliament and the government must find a way to make it work in practice.

vicki young, bbc news, westminster. >> lets go live to our political correspondent damien. i want to get on what happens next in a moment. your reflections and thoughts on the day at westminster? >> hi louis. on a friday, westminster is pretty empty. they have gone back to their constituencies because there has been a friday meeting, little constituents dealing with issues. it's unusual to see this happen at a packed commons, sitting and debating for five hours. it was extraordinary was the level of respect for both sides in this debate. there was back-and-forth with deeply held views and convictions. eachide allowing the other time to speak, allowing many mp's a chance to get up because this was not a party issue. political parties did not give

direction. we sawll the parties split. we saw leaders and current conservative leader voting against previous conservative leader voting for. we saw the prime minister voting for but quite a number of labour mp's voting against. all of them, that report just now from vicki young, the moment when it passed, silence. it is such an issue of such seriousness. this is not the end by any means. it is just the start of a six-month process where this will be deliberated and scrutinized. louis: walk us through that. it is not law at the moment. does not necessarily mean it will become that. walk us through the stages ahead. damian: this now goes to a small committee of mps who are empowered to go through line by line and try to examine it, make

amendments. look to make improvements. normally in a case like this, because this was not a piece of legislation brought by the government, they have left it to a single mp to bring. normally that would be fairly restrictive but they changed the rules to allow that committee to draw in outside experts and evidence. those who lost the vote today, those against the change have said there are things in this that they want to look at amending. the idea that a doctor could recommend to you ending your life and that would be -- they want to possibly change that. they want greater safeguards for a judge who would have to scrutinize whether you would come under any undue pressure to do so. they worry that the definition of who might be eligible to do this could bring in people who

have mental disabilities. people who have anorexia or are starving themselves to death. they are concerned about the legalities, the legal wording. six months of debate will happen. it will come back for another vote by mp's, go to the house of lords for a separate scrutiny and vote. many hurdles still to pass. louis: just before i let you go, i wanted your thoughts on the people in westminster. the reaction after the vote. we heard from people speaking before the vote and from those campaigners leading up outside westminster. reflections as you have been speaking to people since we have known the result. damian: clearly it is an issue that everyone, whether they are mp's or the campaigners outside have deeply held views on.

therefore the result, from whatever perspective you came from was one of real importance. real disappointment for some. real -- a moment of hope for others because they wanted to see this change. the thing that struck me was how even those who were on the side that won the vote and want the change and want assisted dying with the help of a doctor to be available in the u.k., including the mp who brought the bill, what they said was that they too will listen very carefully through the next months and try to take on board and make the changes necessary to satisfy the other side. not just that. they want to take the issues raised in the debate. questions about the provision of end-of-life medical care in the u.k., the palliative care, the care given to you to deal with pain and discomfort, how that

came out in the debate today was that is very patchy across the u.k. they want to use this as a springboard to try to address those issues. beyond what is just and this legislation. what was striking was how both sides, the particular side who wants this, want to take it forward in a way that others can come on board as well. louis: damien, thank you for that. live pictures in georgia. the streets of the capital. you can see smoke rising. we have had water cannon being used by police against protesters. i wanted to mark your card that we are monitoring this. there have been confrontations between police and protesters

out on the streets angry at the government announcement they will suspend succession talks with the european union until the end of 2028. basically put on hold any hope or process of the country moving towards and joining the european union. that has angered protesters. they have been on the streets. there is a little bit of what looks like lull and calm. we will be dipping in and out of these live pictures and a cup -- and hours ahead -- in the hours ahead. more on the story, the main story we were talking about. we want to speak to some people with views on either side. from ontario, canada, dr. john mayer. from ireland, tom curran, a campaigners since 2013.

i appreciate that you two hold slightly different views. it has been a remarkable day of sensitive debate. it is a difficult topic. tom, if i can start with you, your reaction to the decision of the mp's today? tom: it has been coming for quite some time. i suppose the issue is about freedom of choice. that is all it is about. even if there is a law brought in, people don't have to choose. there's a lot of talk about pressure being put on people. i got involved in this the personal experience. my partner, wife, had ms. she realized -- she put it herself. ms was going to take control of her life. she did not want it to be in control of her death. she did not want a long, lingering death.

palliative care is wonderful. we had palliative care. i was very much involved with palliative care, and now as well. she wanted a choice. light ceased to be worth living and she wanted to take control of that herself as the that is how i got involved. louis: same question to the doctor about the decision today. >> it concerns me a great deal, most of because i'm looking to your future as a country. i'm from canada were 10 years ago if you asked me what our society piece supporting assisted death -- people with disabilities, offering it to veterans, talking about offering at the children, i would have said no. we will never get there. as someone who has worked in palliative care and people with mental illness, unfamiliar with the system.

it's failings. what strikes me in the clips from the parliamentarians speaking is that they are repeating things that we already know are not true. for example, the claim we are going to reduce unassisted suicides, forcing terminally ill people to kill themselves in horrible ways, two points there. people who plan their own suicides do it thoughtfully and virtually always painlessly. australia has looked at this carefully. there was no reduction in unassisted suicide. it increased. in oregon, the state where britain says it is modeling its legislation on, the unassisted suicide rate went up 6%. in the three countries in europe that have been doing this since the early 2000, the suicide rates went up dramatically compared to the countries around them. the suicide contagion phenomena israel. -- is real.

so far as giving people the message their lives aren't of similar value or they are being a burden -- let me highlight oregon again. in the 2023 data there were 43% of people reported they were choosing that path because they were made to feel like they were a burden. louis: let me just jump in and put that point to tom. that is an argument several people have raised and passionately -- impassionedly, the idea that they are a burden. what you make of that? tom: the whole burden thing -- if people are made to feel a burden, that estate's responsibility, are responsibly because we are making them feel a burden. society is what we should look at. if people are made to feel that, that is because the health service is not good enough. our society is making them feel they are no longer worth anything.

that is one of the reasons why other suicides are taking place. you mention the fact that suicides did not go down. there is no comparison between the two. we are talking about rational people deciding for themselves years in advance, not necessarily just a week over a month beforehand. the comparison to draw themnto the same sentence is ridiculous. none of them -- neither have anything to doith each other. louis: tom and john, thank you for your time. across the u.k., this is bbc news. ♪

louis: this is bbc news. we will go to georgia and the capital of tbilisi where protesters are out on the streets after the government suspended moves to join the european union. these are the live pictures from tbilisi.

reyhan dimitri is there. talk us through what has bee happening. >> police to avoid water cannons and tear gas. this is happening a few hundred meters away from where i am standing. we are here because over the it's impossible to get at mobile phone signal. some of the protesters tried to storm one of the gates to parliament. as i understand, the water caon -- one of the water cannons is inside the parliament building. it's in spring protesters. from where i'm standing i can hear some banging noises. it sounds like explosive sounds actually from here. also the warning sound whichhe police use, it's a female voice calling on protesters to disperse.

they usually play this recorded sound before right police start moving in -- riot police start moving in. there's a lot of anger in the streets of tbilisi right now. as you can see from some of the pictures protesters are refusing to disperse, because many people believe what is happening now, that they are defending the country's democracy. they are defending georgia's future and the european union. -- in the european union. this was sparked by the decision announced by the prime minister on thursday the hold georgia's du except -- eu process. they were granted candidate status last year. it is supposed to be going through reforms that would recommend --

advancing on those recommendations that were done by the european union. the georgian dream government which has been in power for the last 12 years, it has taken actions in the opposite direction. they have adopted a number of legislations that were seen as anti-reform and pro-russian as described by the opposition and protesters who are nowut in the streets. these people who are protesting right now, they believe their government is acting in russia's interests. not only protesters. there is also georgia's pro-western president. her six-year term will end in two weeks. she has emerged as one of the leaders of this resistance as they call it now against the georgian government, which the president, the opposition and these protesters in the street

consider being pro-russian. louis: can you talk us through the geography of where the protesters are, where the building is, the parliament building, and where the standoff is where you are in relation to that? reyhan: i am standing on one of the main streets of tbilisi. it continues. it runs past the parliament. i'm about 200, 300 meters away from the parliament where -- which has been the focal point for most of the protests in georgia. it is the focal point now. this is where the riot police have been deployed. this is where they have used water cannons to disperse the protesters. more and more pele are moving

this way, presumably escaping teargas. i can still hear in the distance these explosive sounds. this could be teargas or it could be a warning or fireworks. i can see now the crowd, more and more people are moving in this direction. e police warned will use special means. this is the second night riot police have used water cannons. the sounds are even more intensified as i can hear it. louis: thank you so much for that. thank you for talking is through the geography of what has been happening. more people walking behind you. i will let you go. you may want to just chat with his people as they are walking past you just in case they have any update. for the moment that was very

helpful. live on the streets of tbilisi. we will stick with these live pictures. you can see that space between the flashing of the police vehicle and the armed -- the riot shields and riot gear. there is space between them and the protesters at the moment. 24 hours ago, the space effectively disappeared and there were a number of clashes and a number of arrests and clms of violence used against journalists and people on the streets. we are keeping an eye on these pictures live from tbilisi in georgia right now. this is bbc news. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

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