Lauren Edwards

Parliament has dropped the ball today. It will be picked up again as it must be, because the law as it stands is simply too cruel and too unjust to be allowed to stand.

Assisted dying will come in this country, as it is already doing all across the world, but not soon enough.

In a democracy, we settle our differences by voting on them.

We owe it to them, and to the vast majority of voters who support them, not to sit back and allow a minority of unelected peers to stand in their way.

The voters put us here to tackle the big issues they care about, not to constantly kick them down the road.

But they should not be allowed to frustrate the will of the elected chamber a second time.

On Friday, I will be asking MPs to send the bill back to the Lords.

It is time to do the same and give terminally ill people the choice to exercise some control over the manner of their deaths.

But I think it’s a really important thing that we need to do as a country, and I certainly felt a responsibility to those people who really wanted this legislation to be brought in, who were very frustrated, quite rightly frustrated, by…

I guess it’s important to live life in the present, and saying things on social media – obviously, as I’ve experienced, if you don’t think it through properly – can be interpreted in a different way than you intended, and can really store…

All we are trying to do is put proper safeguards around this so people can die in a peaceful way instead of these horrible examples we are seeing in this country.

It’s incredibly overdue and people are suffering. There will be huge repercussions I think for people’s faith in politics and view of the House of Lords if they were to talk it out again.

I’ve spoken to people whose family members have been on ketamine drips, huge amounts, a cocktail of drugs designed to manage their pain, they still die in agony even with the palliative care that we can offer.

He can’t block it in any formal sense – consideration of Private Members Bills is entirely separate from the Prime Minister.

We all want to see better social, palliative and hospice care in every part of the country.

The Parliament Acts are just there as a back stop or insurance policy against another undemocratic filibuster that would thwart the will of the elected chamber.

This is unfinished business for parliament.

We cannot let them down again.

I believe it is a fundamental democratic principle that the elected chamber, the House of Commons, should decide what does and does not become law in this country.

After giving the matter a great deal of thought, I will be reintroducing the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

We are elected as MPs to deal with some of those difficult issues, to have those difficult conversations. We aren't elected to do the easy things.

It's all about giving people a choice, and so I absolutely know that I'll go through a process that Kim's gone through, probably even worse, but that is a small price to pay for what I hope to be able to do, which is introduce this…

My position was always that I was supportive of the issue in principle, but I would need to have assurance that the safeguards were robust and were appropriate and will protect vulnerable people.

I've seen no indication that people have changed their minds who were supportive of the bill in the past.