I appreciate the complex and emotional arguments on both sides of this debate. I have supported the Bill and came to that decision from a range of personal and professional experiences.

Before becoming an MP, I spent my professional life in the NHS. Starting with patient transport, conveying terminal ill individuals to and from the Hospice. I was also a Senior Operating Department Practitioner. Over the course of my career, I have met so many patients who have expressed a wish to die with dignity, on their own terms.

Hundreds of constituents have told me stories of friends and family members who have found themselves with a terminal diagnosis and their agony over the course of their life draining away. This is about restoring a very important choice to these people.

As you know, the Bill has now been picked up Lauren Edwards MP and will be re-introduced in Parliament. I have previously worked closely with Kim Leadbeater and Lord Falconer regarding the bill, and I will now work with Lauren Edwards and other colleagues. I understand the deep feelings on both sides, and I want the bill to be fit for purpose, and humane. I will ensure that this bill is properly scrutinised as it is vital that it is implemented correctly, please do understand that I wish for this Bill to help, not harm terminally ill individuals and give these people more choice and dignity in the last stages of life.