'I've studied assisted dying - this is how to give dying people dignity and choice at the end of their lives' writes former Sheffield MP Paul Blomfield

Her proposed law will give people with a terminal diagnosis of six months or less a choice if they face unbearable pain or suffering in their final days.

Across the country, three-quarters of us, no matter where we’re from or who we vote for, back law change of this sort. Personal experience has led most people to that view. Too many of us have watched someone suffer at the end of their life despite good care. People want choice for their loved ones and for themselves.

It’s a choice that exists for hundreds of millions of people around the world in more than 30 jurisdictions which have assisted dying laws. Closer to home, similar legislation is moving forward in Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

Kim Leadbeater has looked at the experience in all those countries and drafted what are the safest laws anywhere in the world – and safer than what exists now in the UK.

The status quo is cruel and dangerous. It leaves too many dying people suffering at the end of their lives because even the best palliative care cannot help everyone. It drives many to take matters into their own hands.

It’s estimated that up to 650 dying people end their own lives in this country, sometimes in violent ways. If they can afford it, some choose to go alone to Switzerland and end their lives earlier than they would wish because they go when they are still able to travel. If their families assist them, they risk prosecution.

All those exercising choice at the end of their lives currently do so without any regulatory oversight or protections in place. It’s why three former Directors of Public Prosecutions have said the current law is not fit for purpose and backed Kim Leadbeater’s attempt to change it.

I was part of the cross-party House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee inquiry into assisted dying which reported last February. Over 14 months we examined how assisted dying laws overseas are working in practice. We received thousands of submissions and heard hours of testimony. What we learned was reassuring.

We found no evidence that the introduction of assisted dying as an end-of-life option has had any negative impact on palliative care. On the contrary, in some countries the national conversation around law change has instead led to greater investment.

There is no doubt that, while our palliative care services are among the best in the world, there is room for improvement. However, the distress caused by the status quo means that we must both change the law on assisted dying and work to improve palliative care.

Similarly we found no evidence of coercion, but Kim Leadbetter’s Bill makes it a criminal offence – offering protection that doesn’t exist under current UK law.

Some have pointed to Canada’s experience as a reason not to change the laws here. But Canada is one of a handful of countries that have broader eligibility criteria extending beyond terminal illness. This Bill – like laws across the US, Australia and New Zealand – is strictly limited. It’s a right not to end life but to shorten death – with the approval of two doctors and a High Court judge.

Our Committee looked at the argument that any law change would inevitably lead to wider laws and found that not a single jurisdiction that legislated for eligibility based on terminal illness has expanded access beyond that definition.

Kim Leadbeater is offering a better, safer and kinder approach to the end of life. We must all hope that MPs support it.

Paul Blomfield was the MP for Sheffield Central from 2010 to 2024 and is now the Chair of Dignity in Dying