Last-minute lobbying ahead of major assisted dying vote

Last-minute lobbying is taking place across Parliament as MPs prepare to vote on an assisted dying bill for the first time in nearly a decade.

If passed, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would give people in England and Wales in certain circumstances the right to choose to end their own life.

MPs have been given a free vote, meaning they can decide based on their conscience rather than having to follow a party line, in what could be one of the most momentous decisions of their political lives.

The issue has split Parliament, generating strong opinions from both sides.

More on the assisted dying vote

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OTHER COUNTRIES: Where is assisted dying already legal’

Several MPs have also cited religious motivations for their decision, including Kruger and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Even smaller parties like Reform UK have been split by the vote.

Party leader Nigel Farage announced he will vote against the bill, while his deputy Richard Tice and Reform MP for Great Yarmouth, Rupert Lowe, plan to support it.

The debate has also brought together some surprising allies. The longest serving male and female MPs, Tory Edward Leigh and Labour's Diane Abbott are among several MPs saying they will reject the bill, arguing it has been rushed with poor consultation around the safeguards.

Former prime minister Lord David Cameron has changed his mind and backed the bill, after previously being opposed to assisted dying.

Lord Cameron said he believed the current proposal was "not about ending life, it is about shortening death".

Previously his main concern had been that "vulnerable people could be pressured into hastening their own deaths", but he said he believed the current proposal contained "sufficient safeguards" to prevent this.

Lord Cameron is so far the only ex-prime minister to support the bill after Gordon Brown, Baroness Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss all said they were against it.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer backed assisted dying when it was last debated in Parliament in 2015 - but has not revealed how he will vote this time round.

Asked whether his view on the matter had changed, he told a Downing Street press conference: "The vote is coming up... obviously the government is neutral on this and it is a genuinely free vote for all members of Parliament and I don't want to put pressure on them.

"I've obviously got a huge amount of interest and experience in this."

In his former role as director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir changed legal guidance to make it less likely that people motivated by compassion to help someone die would face prosecution.