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Hopes have been raised that the Assisted Dying Bill will return to Parliament, after three supporters were placed among the top five MPs in a crucial draw. The private member’s Bill ballot, which sees balls drawn from a fishbowl to decide which MPs will have the opportunity to propose new laws, took place at 9am on Thursday. The coveted top spot went to ball number 499, Tory Sir Desmond Swayne, who is a staunch opponent of assisted dying.

However, the second, fourth and fifth places were secured by Labour’s Lauren Edwards, Liberal Democrat Andrew George and Conservative Dr Luke Evans — all of whom voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill last year. In a statement issued after the third-reading vote last summer, Ms Edwards described the bill as “one of the most important, compassionate, and empowering changes to healthcare we’ve seen in a generation”.

The MP for Rochester and Strood added: “I want to be clear: this Bill is about choice. It’s about giving people who are facing unimaginable pain and suffering at the end of their lives the legal right to decide how and when they die — on their terms, surrounded by those they love, with dignity, compassion, and support.

“This choice does not replace hospice or palliative care — and it never will.” Ms Edwards also praised the bill’s sponsor, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, “for her powerful leadership and dedication on this important issue”.

The legislation fell in the previous session of Parliament after a small group of peers filibustered to run down the clock.

Ms Leadbeater and her team have offered to support any MP who chooses to adopt the Bill. If it is backed by the Commons in a second session, the Lords will not be able to block it again.

Mr George, the MP for St Ives, has strongly criticised blockers in the Lords. He wrote on Facebook last month: “The House of Lords has today assisted its own Dying.

“If a minority of unelected Peers can deliberately frustrate the will of the democratically elected chamber, they must all go. And the sooner the better.”

Dr Evans, the MP for Hinckley and Bosworth, spoke in favour of the bill during Commons debates, drawing on his own experiences in medicine.

Highlighting the limitations of end-of-life care in a 2024 speech, he told of “cases that keep doctors and surgeons awake at night”. Dr Evans gave the example of an “inoperable neck cancer eroding away into the carotid artery, a literal bloody time bomb that no one knows when it will go off”.

Setting out his reasons for voting for the legislation last summer, he added: “I made this decision because I do not believe the current status quo is right.

“I believe those who are terminally ill, of sound mind and nearing the end of life should have the legal right to choose how they die and when — if they so wish.”

A total of 20 MPs were drawn in the ballot, but only those near the top are likely to secure enough time for their bill.

Conversations have started between assisted dying supporters in Parliament and those near the top of the draw, who will face fierce lobbying on a range of other issues.

Successful MPs will formally introduce their bills to the Commons on Wednesday, June 17.