MPs will be voting on a bill on Friday that would legalise assisted dying.

The first assisted dying debate in the House of Commons in almost a decade took place on Friday.

MP Kim Leadbeater for Spen Valley opened the debate on her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the first time the issue has been debated in the Commons since 2015.

The new law is proposing to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.

This would only affect terminally adults who are expected to die within six months and who have been resident in England and Wales and registered with a GP for at least 12 months.

They must have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish, free from coercion or pressure, to end their life.

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MP Tom Rutland and MP Beccy Cooper will be voting in favour of the bill (Image: The Argus) Five hours have been set aside for MPs to air their views on the Bill. Depending on votes the bill may then progress through Parliament.

Every single one of the 650 MPs must choose for themselves with some in Sussex making their views known to the public.

Tom Rutland Labour MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, Dr Beccy Cooper Labour MP for West Worthing, Chris Ward Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, James MacCleary LibDem MP for Lewes and Sian Berry Green MP for Brighton Pavilion are all voting in favour of the bill.

In a letter Mr Rutland said: “I believe that those who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and deemed to have less than six months to live should be able to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life, subject to safeguards and protections.

“This Bill provides for that.”

Ms Cooper told The Argus: "This is a complex and emotive issue and I know there are strongly held ethical and moral views on both sides of the debate.

"Successive governments have taken the view that any change in the law should be a matter of conscience for MPs and the forthcoming Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill will be a free vote.

"As a medical doctor and public health consultant I have spent 20 years helping people to be well and to access the best possible care when they are ill. It’s what brought me into politics.

"I share your view that it is right to seek to minimise suffering and allow people a dignified death. I would stress also, that assisted dying should not be an alternative to high quality palliative and end of life care.

"I recognise the view that, in limiting its scope to terminally ill patients, this Bill does not address the terrible suffering experienced by people with other conditions such as Motor Neurone Disease.

"Any change to the law in relation to assisted dying must balance the need to have sufficient safeguards in relation to informed consent and protecting against abuse. These are challenging legal and ethical issues and there are no easy answers.

"It is my view that this Bill does provide appropriate safeguards and I will be supporting a change in the law to enable terminally ill adults to receive, at their request, medically supervised assistance to end their own lives."

In a sign of the level of feeling on the issue, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said more than 160 MPs are bidding to speak on it.

Ms Leadbeater has said it would likely be a further two years from then for an assisted dying service to be in place.

Campaigners both for and against the Bill gathered outside Parliament.