Will MPs kill off assisted dying law today? Controversial law returns to the Commons with vote on a knife-edge as supporters vow to force 'flawed' plan through Parliament

MPs are today set to vote on a bid to revive assisted dying legislation following the return of a controversial Bill to Parliament.

The House of Commons is considering the Second Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

The Bill has been reintroduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards despite its failure in the last parliamentary session when - although it passed two votes in the Commons - it fell in the Lords.

Peers ran out of time to conclude their debate on the Bill, amid accusations of 'filibustering' by opponents of the legislation, before the last session ended in April.

It has been suggested that Ms Edwards and other supporters of the Bill could use the Parliament Acts to force it through the Lords this time round.

The Bill aims to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.

MPs are today set to vote on a bid to revive assisted dying legislation following the return of a controversial Bill to Parliament

The Bill has been reintroduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards despite its failure in the last parliamentary session when - although it passed two votes in the Commons - it fell in the Lords

Campaigners in favour of assisted dying demonstrated in front of the Houses of Parliament this morning

Ms Edwards re-introduced the Bill to the Commons after taking over from its previous sponsor Kim Leadbeater.

She has urged her fellow MPs to send the near-identical Bill back to the Lords 'so that they can finish what they started' in scrutinising the legislation. 

But critics have argued the 'flawed' Bill is 'unsafe' and warned against allowing it to return to the Lords unamended.

Ms Edwards on Friday said MPs were being asked to consider 'who ultimately decides the laws that govern our nations' after the unelected Lords blocked the Bill last time round.

Opening the Second Reading debate, she said: 'We can and we must improve both palliative care and support assisted dying.

'We must grasp that opportunity in front of us to create a holistic end of life care system that will deliver choice and dignity for every single one of our constituents.'

She said that, because of the four-year implementation period in the Bill, assisted dying would not be available across the two nations until 2031 at the earliest.

'We owe it to the people that we represent to find a resolution to this issue, one way or the other, within this Parliament,' the Labour MP for Rochester and Strood added.

Karen Bradley, a Conservative former minister, said previous supporters of the Bill should feel 'no shame' in opposing the draft new law.

'You do not have to repudiate the vote you cast last time in order to vote differently today,' she said.

'You do not have to decide that assisted dying can never be right. You do not have to abandon the compassion that led you to support the principle.

'You need only ask whether this Bill, in this form, on the evidence before us now today, is safe enough for Parliament to force into law.

'That is today's test and there is no shame whatsoever in concluding that the answer to a different question is different, indeed, there will be something profoundly wrong with a Parliament in which members felt bound by an earlier vote, regardless of everything they'd learned since.'

Ahead of the debate around 70 MPs had put their names forward to speak on the Bill and a vote is expected to take place by 2.30pm.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has already said he will not vote on the Bill so as not to 'unduly influence the debate'.

But he has previously argued there is a more immediate need to fix palliative care and social care than debate the legalisation of assisted dying.

The previous assisted dying Bill passed its Third Reading in the Commons in June last year by a majority of 23 votes.

But two of those MPs who supported the Bill - former prime minister Keir Starmer and former Makerfield MP Josh Simons - have since left Parliament.

Meanwhile, other MPs who previously supported the Bill have said they will not back using the Parliament Acts to force through the legislation.

In a letter to MPs today, Gareth Snell, who previously voted in favour of assisted dying, and Meg Hillier, who opposed it, said it would be an 'extraordinary risk for us to take'.

'We know that the colleagues who have brought the Bill forward did so in good faith. They have sought to start a conversation many feel is overdue about an issue that is manifestly of interest to the public,' they wrote.

'However, the consequences of what may happen this week go much further.

'We both want the House of Lords to fulfil its duties, but bringing back an identical Bill devoid of the previously agreed amendments sets up a constitutional showdown through an issue which deserves much more thoughtful consideration.'

Fresh polling shared with the Daily Mail today reveals that the public overwhelmingly supports Mr Burnham's view, namely that the debate about assisted dying should not come before palliative and social care are fixed.

A poll by Whitestone Insight found that 82 per cent agree Parliament should first ensure no one would feel driven towards an assisted death because they cannot get the care and support they need at the end of life. Just 8 per cent disagreed.

It also found that 74 per cent agree that current pressures on the NHS and social care funding could lead some people to choose to end their lives through an assisted death earlier than they would otherwise, because they fear they would not receive the care and support they need.

Nearly two-thirds agreed that money should not be taken from the NHS budget to finance assisted dying services.

The Parliament Acts mean that a Bill reintroduced to the Commons for a second time and passed by MPs in two concurrent parliamentary sessions, without amendments, can receive royal assent without peers' approval.