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Hello, I'm Alicia McCarthy.

Thanks for downloading the yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Friday the 13th of May, MPs packed into the Commons for more passionate debate on plans to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.

It's been several months since the assisted dying bill was last in the Commons.

MPs backed its broad principles in November and sent it off to be poured over in detail by a

committee. It made a number of amendments and yesterday the bill was back on the floor of the

House so all MPs could take a look at the revised version

and propose and vote on more changes.

The legislation would give termly ill adults with six months to live

the chance to seek help to end their lives.

The MP behind the bill, Kim Ledbeter, argued it was time to do things differently.

If we do not vote to change the law, we are essentially saying that the status quo is acceptable.

And over recent months, I've heard hundreds of stories from people who have lost loved ones in deeply difficult and traumatic circumstances, which show that that is clearly not the case.

Too many have seen their terminally ill loved ones

take their own lives out of desperation or make the traumatic, lonely and costly trip to Switzerland

and then face a police investigation while dealing with their grief and loss.

The bill will apply in England, with politicians in Wales voting on whether to implement it there.

Members of the Scottish Parliament gave initial backing to their own proposals earlier in the week.

When it was in committee, Kim Ledbeter introduced a major change to the oversight process,

switching approval from a High Court judge to a panel made up of a legal figure, a psychiatrist and a social worker.

But back in the comments,

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