Parliament to hold vote to legalise assisted dying led by West Yorkshire MP

The law currently does not allow for people with terminal illnesses to end their own lives and anyone who helps them can be prosecuted.

Under the proposals, people with less than six months to live would be able to end their lives after being assessed by two independent doctors.

Ms Leadbeater and supporters of the bill argue it would give people who are suffering the dignity and control to choose the moment and avoid unnecessary suffering.

Opponents argue that it could set a dangerous precedent in which people could be coerced into taking their own lives or feel they have a responsibility to do so to avoid becoming a “burden” to families.

At an event at the Healds Hall hotel in Liversedge, Ms Leadbeater met supporters of the bill from across Yorkshire.

She said: “I want to celebrate the fantastic palliative care that we have in this country. We’re not far from my local hospice and they do a brilliant job.

"But even with the very best palliative care, it is not the answer for everybody and it cannot solve everyone’s problems.

"I will fight for the rights of disabled people as well, but what I won’t do is to ignore the rights of dying people.

"I am in politics to try to make a difference. As legislators we can have an impact and make a massive difference to change things for the better and that’s what my bill does.”

Julie Casson now lives in Scarborough but was previously from Cleckheaton.

She said: “My husband Nigel was diagnosed with MND in 2007.

"He battled with it for ten years by which time he felt it was beginning to crush his spirit in the same way that it had crushed his body.

"He knew his body was going to be his tomb so he was determined to go to Dignitas.

"When he received the provisional green light from Dignitas it transformed his life.

"He found happiness again. He took control of his life and his death and he felt triumphant.

"He would have much preferred to die at home and was sad to have to go abroad to die because the law of our country prevented him from doing that.

"If his wish had been granted, we as a family would have been spared the anxiety of not knowing if we would be prosecuted and also spared that agonising feeling of leaving Nigel behind on his own.”

Josh Cook from Fartown, just outside Spen Valley, has Huntington’s, the same disease that meant his mother faced the prospect of an agonising death earlier this year.

He said: “Instead she took her own life at home. I had gone out to coach rugby and came back to find her dead in the same bed where I had seen her deteriorate every day.

"That end is beyond brutal. She died alone, cold and broken in spirit.

"I play rugby and teach others and I will make the most of my life for as long as I can.

"But I cannot go from who I am now to the broken man I know I will be. It is a basic human right to have a choice to avoid a painful death and not leave my family in pain.”

Ministers have been advised by Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, the UK’s most senior civil servant to not campaign on the issue.

The most senior member of the Labour government understood to be against the bill is Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Last month, he told the Financial Times he was “struggling” with the issue.

He added that he could “buy into the principle” of assisted dying but was unsure the UK had “the right end-of-life care available to enable a real choice on assisted dying”.

In a previous vote on the issue in 2015 he voted in favour of a change in the law.

At a meeting in Leeds, the Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland issued a joint statement opposing the bill.

They said: “Life is a gift to be protected, especially when threatened by sickness and death.

"Palliative care, with expert pain relief, and good human, spiritual, and pastoral support, is the right and best way to care for people towards the end of life.

"More adequate funding and resources for hospices and palliative care teams authentically serve and honour our shared human dignity.”

They said that some people could be directly or indirectly encouraged to die as a result of the legislation.

“We are alarmed by the impact that legalisation will have on the most vulnerable members of our society.

"The option to end life can quickly, and subtly, be experienced as a duty to die.

“Some may well feel their continued existence is a burden to others, and, implicitly or explicitly, be pressured into assisted suicide."

"We are also concerned that this bill will fundamentally damage the relationship between medical practitioners and their patients.

"It will potentially lead to pressure on medical staff to recommend or facilitate such procedures.

"Will the right to conscientious objection for individuals and institutions be guaranteed?

"The impact on hospices, care homes, and those who work in social and community care cannot be underestimated.

"It will radically alter the ethos of trust and support which underpins our service to those in need and their families.”

Ms Leadbeater said the bill would have the strongest safeguards of any legislation of its type.

She said: “We’ve drafted a very, very robust bill.

"It is probably the strongest piece of legislation anywhere in the world.

"It does not have within its scope disabled people or people with mental illness.

"It is just for people who are dying. There are protections against coercion at every stage.”