Bishop Sarah – the former Chief Nursing Officer and the Church’s Lead Bishop for Health and Social Care – called on parliamentarians to ask themselves searching questions about the kind of society we want to live in before the Third Reading vote in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the Commons on Friday.

She said: “MPs have the power to stop the passage of this Bill, in the face of serious concerns from the medical profession, palliative care specialists, and those facing the end of life.

“If enacted, this Bill would arrive amidst hugely inequitable access to palliative care and an NHS on life support.

“The potential for abuse and uninformed or coerced decisions is enormous.

“This is not about so-called progressivism v conservatism, or atheism v religion. This is about the kind of society we want to live in.

“The vision that this Bill presents is one in which the disabled and vulnerable are made to feel like they are a burden, as if their lives are worth less.

“This is, and has always been, an unsafe and unworkable bill.

“The promise that Committee stage would ‘iron out’ major concerns with the Bill has not been forthcoming.

“Instead, it has presented more unanswered questions, left more doubts, and seen so-called protections crumble away before even coming into law.

“I implore every Member of Parliament to ask themselves whether they truly believe assisted suicide is right for the society in which we want to live.”