Will the assisted dying bill be passed today and at what time?

A new law has been proposed to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.

Kim Leadbeater - the Labour MP for Spen Valley in West Yorkshire - opened the debate on her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday morning. It is the first time the issue has been debated in the Commons since 2015, which made it “long overdue”, Ms Leadbeater said.

Campaigners both for and against the bill gathered outside Parliament on Friday and, in a sign of the level of feeling on the issue, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said more than 160 MPs were bidding to speak on it.

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Encouraging or assisting suicide is against the law in England and Wales, with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years. Ms Leadbeater’s proposals would allow terminally ill adults with less than six months to live - and who have been resident in England and Wales and registered with a GP for at least 12 months - to end their lives, subject to the approval of two doctors and a High Court judge.

Opening the debate, Ms Leadbeater told MPs: “I know that this is not easy. It certainly hasn’t been easy for me. But if any of us wanted an easy life, I’m afraid we are in the wrong place.

“It is our job to address complex issues and make difficult decisions. And I know for many people this is a very difficult decision.

“But our job is also to address the issues that matter to people, and after nearly a decade since this subject was debated on the floor of the House, many would say this debate is long overdue.”

What time is the vote on the assisted dying bill today?

Five hours have been set aside for MPs to air their views on the bill but they are not guaranteed a vote on it. Ms Leadbeater’s proposal is known as a private members’ bill (PMBs).

These PMBs are considered during Friday sittings and the time available to consider them is from 9.30am until 2.30pm. If the debate is still ongoing at 2.30pm then it is adjourned and the bill falls to the bottom of the list, which means it is highly unlikely to make any further progress.

A closure motion can be moved to curtail the debate and force a vote. It may be moved at any time during proceedings.

On Friday sittings, an MP seeking to move such a motion tends to do so at around 1pm. If approved, the House then votes on whether or not to give the bill a second reading.

If rejected, the House resumes the debate and the bill is unlikely to progress.

Will the assisted dying bill be passed today?

If there is a vote on Friday and the outcome is a ‘yes’, the bill will go to committee stage, where amendments can be tabled by MPs. It would then face further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.

Ms Leadbeater has suggested an assisted dying service would not be up and running for around another two years from the point the law was passed, with “even more consultation to make sure we get it right” at that stage.

Could the assisted dying bill be ‘talked out’?

On previous Friday sittings, some MPs have been accused of filibustering – making overlong speeches in a bid to deliberately waste time to try and talk out a bill. It is not customary for the Speaker to impose a time limit on speeches when MPs debate private members’ bills, although the occupant of the chair retains the right to impose a formal limit if demand is high.

MPs are likely to be given guidance on how long they should speak for in a bid to give as many of them a chance to speak as possible.

Was there an amendment tabled by some MPs to stop the assisted dying bill?

A group of six cross-party MPs put forward an amendment to “decline” to give a second reading to the bill. It argued that a PMB does not “allow for sufficient debate on and scrutiny of a bill on a matter of this importance”.

This bid to halt the bill’s progress, however, was not selected for consideration by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.