It was a privilege to support the Assisted Dying Bill - here is why I did so

PA

As I said in Parliament on Friday, every day we come to this place with the responsibility to make decisions that we hope will improve not just our society, but people's lives.

Their choices, their opportunities, and their well-being. Last week we had the opportunity to give them control over that one thing that none of us can predict, or ultimately avoid. I am sure we all have a way we would like it to be.

To walk on the beach that I played on as a child.

Where my mother taught me to swim.

Where I built sandcastles with my dad and played with my own daughter.

Where I sat up late with my sisters and friends putting the world to rights.

Then go home, go to sleep and not wake up.

I know that won't happen.

None of us can know what will happen. If life goes a different way, I do not know what I would do. But I know I would like to have the choice.

And I do not believe that I have the right to deny others that choice too. That is why I chose to sponsor Kim Leadbeater’s Bill.

To give those with a terminal diagnosis the choice to end their lives with dignity and without suffering.

The debate has been for all of us MPs a harrowing experience as we welcomed into Parliament the families and friends of terminally-ill adults, who either had to live in pain, or make the heartbreaking trip to Dignitas alone.

To avoid the risk of their family being investigated for assisting a death. These stories highlight why this Bill is vital. Not just to help alleviate the pain of those at the end of their lives, but to end the shocking status quo that places those who want to act out of love and compassion for their relatives under suspicion.

So no one else has to make that lonely trip at such a difficult time in their life. As the Bill progressed through Parliament, the committee set up to examine it sat for weeks.

Longer than some government bills, to make sure we got this change right. It took evidence from professional bodies, groups representing disabled people and charities, and crucially added in some of the strongest safeguards in a Bill of this kind anywhere in the world.

There is an expert panel to assess requests for an assisted death – including a psychiatrist and a social worker to assess mental capacity, and identify any possible cases of coercion.

It would be overseen by a High Court judge, giving an extra layer of protection for any vulnerable people. That is what is at the heart of this Bill.

As Kim Leadbeater herself said on Friday, it is not a choice between life and death, but between giving people control or not. And it’s not a choice between palliative care or assisted dying either.

We can and we must improve the care offered to terminally ill people, and support the hardworking nurses, consultants and specialists who have worked through years of SNP and Tory mismanagement of healthcare.

But the change we have made will now give people the choice to end their lives in comfort, with dignity and respect.

It was a privilege to support it.