The MP for East Devon, Simon Jupp, has called for a change in the law to legalise assisted dying, during an emotional Parliamentary debate on the issue.

Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

But lately there has been strong public support for a campaign calling for assisted dying to be legalised for terminally ill adults who are of sound mind and have less than six months to live.

The Westminster Hall debate on Monday had no vote, but was a chance for MPs to share their own and their constituents’ views on the issue - and there were impassioned speeches for and against legislative change.

Simon Jupp said: "Assisted dying, with appropriate safeguards, should be the law now.

"Who are any of us here today to deny people that ultimate freedom, that choice to end the pain? The blanket ban on assisted dying forces people to suffer against their wishes. The only legal solution involves going abroad at enormous expense which is out of reach for most people. Dignity in dying shouldn't just be available for the privileged few."

During the debate Conservative former minister Sir Desmond Swayne warned that a change in the law change could lead to people being killed simply because they are old.

His party colleague Therese Coffey also spoke out against a change, telling MPs: “No-one should feel such a burden on their family, their friends and society that they should end their lives early.”

But fellow Tory Kit Malthouse said: “The vast majority of the British people, they love their parents, they love their grandparents, they want the best for them.” He added that any new law should have safeguards.

He also said it was 'an outrage' that someone who has the money 'can have what the law denies to everybody else'.

Labour MP Paul Blomfield suggested that the current law is 'unsafe, and assisted dying laws are safer than blanket bans'.

The Parliamentary debate followed a campaign by the Daily Express backed by Dame Esther Rantzen, who has terminal cancer and has joined the Swiss Dignitas clinic. A petition calling for politicians to be given a free vote on changing the law attracted more than 200,000 signatures.