Speaking after she and her DUP colleagues voted against the bill. Mrs Lockhart said:

“Today, Parliament chose life.

“As I said during the debate, the words we use matter. The soft language of ‘assisted dying’ obscures the stark reality of what was being proposed. This was not about an extra shot of morphine to ease someone on their way. It would have allowed doctors to provide lethal drugs for a patient to end their life.

“This Bill would have fundamentally altered the patient-doctor relationship and weakened the principles that underpin suicide prevention. It would also have left vulnerable people, including those with learning difficulties, disabilities or a history of suicidal feelings, exposed to pressure and without adequate safeguards.

“A desire to die can often be a cry for help, driven by financial worries, poor access to care or the fear of becoming a burden. Death must never be presented as an acceptable response to hardship or a lack of support.

“I could never support this Bill, either on practical grounds or as a matter of Christian faith and conscience. Life is precious and deserves protection from its beginning to its natural end.

“This is a great day, but the work cannot stop here. Too many people still struggle to access the end-of-life care they deserve. The answer to that failure cannot be to make death more available. The answer is to make care more available instead.

“We now need proper and sustained investment in palliative care, hospice care and pain management. Nobody should ever feel that death is their only option because the care and support they need are unavailable.

“The true measure of a compassionate society is not how easily it facilitates death, but how faithfully it cares for those who are suffering.

“I thank the many thousands of people who contacted their MPs, lobbied, spoke out and prayed. Parliament listened, and this dangerous Bill has been defeated.”