The Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, begins by saying that more than 160 members have indicated that they want to speak in today's debate.

He says it is not customary to impose a time-limit on speakers during a debate on a private members' bill, but issues guidance that after the first two speakers, MPs should try and keep their remarks to under eight minutes to try and allow as many speakers as possible.

It's one of the most important debates the House has had, he says, calling on MPs to be respectful and listen to each other.

He also says that the so-called wrecking amendment has not been selected.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

As I walked into Parliament this morning, the entrance was flanked by protesters from both sides.

“Kill the bill, not the ill,” read one sign opposing the proposed law.

“My body, my life, my choice,” read another supporting the change.

As I reported earlier, it’s the first time many MPs new to Westminster have experienced a mass lobbying campaign like this.

And on a highly unusual day like today, when MPs are not told by their party how to vote, the campaigners know their efforts could sway the MPs who are still undecided.

Image source, Reuters

Emily Atkinson
Live editor

A debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is about to begin, marking the first time MPs will have voted on such a measure in nearly 10 years.

Labour's Kim Leadbeater, a co-sponsor of the bill, will start this morning’s proceedings by addressing a number of interventions from other MPs.

The Commons Speaker will then begin calling on MPs – 170 have registered to speak – ensuring that different points of view are given a fair hearing over the course of the five-hour debate.

We’ll bring you rolling updates on the key lines from the Commons, alongside analysis from our political correspondent to guide us through until the vote (scheduled for around 14:30 GMT).

Hit watch live above to follow along. Stay with us.

Ben Hatton
Live reporter

• The debate is expected to start in the House of Commons at around 09:30 GMT and end at 14:30 GMT
• There is one amendment listed, so the first thing to look out for is whether Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle selects that for a vote. It's a so-called wrecking amendment, meaning that if MPs voted in favour it would effectively end the bill's passage
• As the bill's sponsor, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater will open the debate, and is expected to speak for around 25 minutes
• The debate will then proceed by the Speaker calling MPs. Around 170 have asked to speak, but the Speaker will likely follow guidance. Even so, the tight timings mean many MPs may not get the chance – we're likely to hear from around 50
• At the end of the debate, MPs are expected to get the chance to vote. And if the amendment is selected, MPs will get a chance to vote on that, too. Votes take place in person and usually last around 15 minutes, with the result read out immediately afterwards

• If a majority of MPs vote for the wrecking amendment, or against the bill, then the bill is defeated
• If MPs vote in favour of the bill, then it will progress for further parliamentary scrutiny, in both the Commons and Lords, which could take months
• In parliamentary speak, today is the bill's second reading. A vote in favour does not guarantee that it will become law, but provides a strong indication of the will of the democratically elected chamber

Chris Mason
Political editor

This is a day like few others at Westminster.

MPs have a free vote on an issue of profound social change, an issue of conscience where many have wrestled with questions ranging from morality to practicality.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would apply to England and Wales, will have what is known as its second reading, which is parliamentary speak for its first Commons debate and vote.

For new MPs - and remember 335 out of the 650 members of Parliament were elected for the first time in July - it is a particularly big moment.

Shorn of their usual political compass bearings: party loyalty, ideology, an instinct on the extent or limits of the state, for instance, they have instead had to come to a very personal decision.

Things will get going at 09:30 GMT and the first MP to speak will be Labour’s Kim Leadbeater, who is leading the campaign for a change in the law.

Emily Doughty
Live reporter

Image source, Mary Maycroft

We're continuing to hear from some of our readers on the proposed law for England and Wales, as part of Your Voice, Your BBC News.

Mary Maycroft, from Swindon, believes that assisted dying legislation should not pass until there are improvements to the health service.

The 58-year-old, who has stage 4 cancer, believes that if assisted dying was passed she would have no choice but to use it for a “good death” that is not available through NHS palliative care.

“I would rather not have assisted dying, my whole being is repelled by the idea, though I do think people should have a choice. But I don’t see there is choice currently as a good death is not available on the NHS.

“You look at the medical care you will get and think crap I am going to die in pain.”

Ruth Leech, however, thinks that palliative care offered through the NHS allows patients and families a way of saying goodbye.

The mother of four, who lost two of her children to a genetic abnormality, said: “more awareness of good quality end of life care would not necessitate assistant dying."

She praised the care her children got saying it “allowed us as a family to say goodbye”.

The 59-year-old from Portsmouth is worried about what the law would mean for people living with a disability.

“As a parent of two disabled children I worry it could be manipulated.

“I would not want to live in a society where you can say some lives are not valuable. This bill opens that door.”

The actor and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr is against the introduction of the assisted dying bill.

Speaking on the BBC's HARDtalk programme she says: “It is terrifying for me that once we cross that line and we let the state and the medical profession get involved in the deaths and the killing… that we’ve crossed a moral divide and there’s no going back.”

Carr adds that the "definition of terminal illness is quite often slippery” and “there is a fine line... between terminal illness and disability.”

Watch all of Liz Carr's interview on HARDtalk via iPLAYER.

Tom Warren
BBC News

Image source, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

While MPs will be focused on debating the assisted dying bill today, one palliative care specialist says their attention should instead be focused on the state of end-of-life care, which he says needs to be "fixed".

As we've been reporting, MPs across the country are set to vote today on whether to take a proposed bill to the next stage.

However, Dr Mike Blaber, a consultant in palliative care at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, says end-of-life care needs "urgent attention".

It comes as hospices have warned that the sector is facing a financial crisis, although the government has pledged support.

• Continue reading about the state of palliative care in the NHS

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said introducing assisted dying would have “resource implications” which would come “at the expense of other choices”.

He has ordered officials at the Department of Health and Social Care to review those costs. But that work has not been completed yet.

When it is, it will be fed into the wider government impact assessment on changing the law – something that will be produced later in the parliamentary process if MPs back the bill today. Research into the costings of assisted dying is actually very limited.

One review, external published in the summer on assisted dying laws in other countries suggested it saves money compared to providing end of life care.

But the number of people choosing an assisted death is expected to be small - in New Zealand and the US state of Oregon it accounts for around 1% of deaths.

And introducing it will, of course, come with upfront costs to put systems and support in place.

Munaza Rafiq
BBC disability producer

Philip Friend has been disabled his whole life and believes this bill could change the relationship between doctors and disabled people.

He says he has always believed his doctor "wants to do their very best for me".

"If they're now seeing one of the best things they can do for me is to help me to die, that changes the dynamic incredibly," he says.

He says this is one of the scariest things for many disabled people.

Philip says the idea of coercion doesn’t have to come from others, “it can be within you”.

“So I think for me, the law at the moment protects me in some ways from myself".

He believes the answer is improved palliative and social care "to help somebody live as full and active a life as they can".

Munaza Rafiq
Disability producer

Image source, Tom Shakespeare

Professor Tom Shakespeare says disabled people, like everybody else, are divided on this bill.

He believes there are enough safeguards in place to protect vulnerable people and points to the fact that it is limited to end of life, adding that most disabled people will not be affected.

“I think fear of a law like this, a fear of doctors or the NHS is understandable, but not necessary," he says.

Shakespeare says he doesn't accept that the bill would open the door to further legislation that widens the scope of who is eligible for assisted dying.

"There's no slippery slope," he says.

"There's separate legislation, which would be needed, and I do not believe that people would support any legislature of that nature. I certainly wouldn’t.”

He says this debate is all about “hearing the voices of disabled people and disabled people being able to decide for themselves, and I believe that they should".

Peter Barnes
BBC political analyst

If the bill is rejected at second reading, that’s the end of the road.

However, if it passes, there are still many months of parliamentary activity ahead before it becomes a law – and that may never happen.

The next stage will be the committee stage where the bill will be considered line by line by a smaller group of MPs.

There will also have to be a money resolution to authorise any spending that the bill would necessitate. Only the government can table money resolutions.

It’s possible that the government will intervene to change some of the normal procedures that apply to private members’ bills for committee and subsequent stages, for example to allow more Commons time at report stage or to allow the committee to hear evidence from witnesses, but so far they haven’t indicated they’re planning to do anything like this.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Normally MPs are told how to vote by their party. But not in this case. It’s deemed an issue of conscience which means MPs have a "free vote". So it is up to them to decide individually what to do.

Many who are new to Westminster are daunted by an issue of such seriousness so early in their political careers.

It’s also the first time some have experienced a mass lobbying effort. Campaigns on both sides have organised supporters into mass email writing, with thousands of pleas to vote for or against the bill landing in MPs inboxes over the last few weeks.

One MP told me it was the first time they had been rung up by their local bishop, who urged them to vote against the bill.

Another said they had always been in favour of the principle of assisted dying, until they had been given the choice. Now, faced with the gravity of the decision, they feel overwhelmed and are undecided how to vote.

It is expected to be an emotional debate with passionate arguments on both sides. One wavering MP said they wouldn’t make up their mind until the last moment after they’d heard both sides set out their cases in the Commons.

Fergus Walsh
Medical editor

Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Austria have some form of legalised assisted dying. In all of them - unlike the proposals in England and Wales - help to die is not restricted to the terminally ill.

Switzerland was the first country in the world to create a “right to die” when it made assisted dying legal in 1942. It is one of the few countries which allows foreigners access to help to die via organisations like Dignitas, in Zurich.

The Netherlands and Belgium both legalised assisted dying more than 20 years ago for patients experiencing unbearable suffering from an incurable illness, including mental health issues. It has since been extended to children - the only European countries to allow this. Both allow euthanasia - or physician-assisted dying.

Most recently, Spain and Austria have legalised assisted dying for both terminal illness and intolerable suffering. Despite the variation, what’s clear is that eligibility for assisted dying is far wider across Europe than is being proposed anywhere in the British Isles. MSPs at Holyrood are to debate a similar bill covering Scotland as that being voted on at Westminster.

Sam Ahmedzai is an emeritus professor and retired consultant in palliative medicine who supports patients having more say on how they end their lives.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, he says this is an issue of choice, not consent, and that people are coming to doctors for help to shorten their time - "a choice they've made consciously".

Ahmedzai says there should be improvements in identifying patients who may benefit from better end of life choices earlier.

He says many people are referred to palliative care specialists too late, when "so much suffering has already passed for those patients" in the last days or weeks of their lives.

Ahmedzai insists there is no reason why we cant have assisted dying alongside palliative care.

He says in other countries assisted dying can actually help increase the amount of palliative care available, "so the two things can go hand in hand".

Emily Doughty
Live reporter

We've been hearing some of your views on the proposed law for England and Wales, as part of Your Voice, Your BBC News.

Angela Kenny from Nottingham supports the assisted dying bill, but wants more support given to hospice care calling the two “inseparable”.

The 72-year-old, who has worked at two hospices, believes that while protocol has been thought out for the bill, questions still need to be asked about how this will work in practice.

"Where will this (assisted dying) take place, hospital, the persons home or hospices," she asks.

"Some people don’t want to die in their homes. I have had patients describe hospices as a paradise. They need support.”

Ariel Dempsey is also concerned about aspects of the bill, but does not think it should be passed. The 33-year-old believes that the safeguards within the bill are legal, not clinical.

“True clinical safeguards require time-sensitive, nuanced engagement based on life long relationships. Tick boxes make for poor safeguards," she says.

A PhD student at Oxford University, she is also concerned that there will not be sufficient safeguards to protect those who are vulnerable.

“I doubt if it is possible to devise such a law” that would put in appropriate safeguards, Dempsey asserts.

Image source, Getty Images

Michelle Roberts
Health editor

Deaths covered by the assisted suicide bill would not need to be investigated by a coroner.

But the bill would make it illegal for someone to pressure, coerce or use dishonesty to get someone to make a declaration that they wish to end their life or to induce someone to self-administer an approved substance.

If someone is found guilty of either of these actions, they could face a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

Michelle Roberts
Health editor

Let's return now to some of the requirements included in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which, as a reminder, is due to be debated by MPs from 09:30 GMT.

Under the bill, a doctor could prepare the "approved" substance (the bill does not detail what medication this is) but the person themselves must take it.

No doctor or anyone else would be allowed to administer the medication to the terminally ill person.

The doctor would stay with the person until they had self-administered the substance and died (or the doctor determines the procedure has failed). The person could decide not to take it, in which case the doctor would have to remove the substance immediately.

Doctors would also not be under any obligation to take part in the assisted dying process.

This is called physician-assisted suicide. Voluntary euthanasia is different and is where a health professional administers the drugs to the patient.

Image source, Reuters

There are many terms that have been used to describe assisted dying legislation throughout the world, but during the debate in Parliament today, these are two that you’re most likely to hear.

Assisted dying, the term the BBC uses, is how the practice is most commonly referred in the UK.

Some MPs have spoken about the issue previously using assisted suicide, and we can expect to hear that reflected in the debate as well. And, as Emma noted in our last post, some disabled people against the bill also use this term.

A parliamentary briefing paper notes that there is no consensus on which term is best to use, and itself uses assisted dying/ assisted suicide, abbreviated to AD/AS.

The key takeaway here is that all of these describe the same thing - the practice of ending one’s life with medical help.

Emma Tracey
Host of Access All

The assisted dying bill is something I’ve discussed a lot with guests on the BBC’s disability and mental health podcast, Access All. Some disabled people against the bill call it assisted suicide instead.

Three-hundred-and-fifty Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) have joined together to oppose it.

They worry that over time, safeguards will be eroded, and some disabled people could be coerced into assisted dying without having a terminal diagnosis.

They also feel that systems like social care and the NHS need to be fixed first. But in the episode I recorded about this a couple of weeks ago, you’ll hear that some high profile disabled people support the bill.

Catch up on all the latest episodes of the BBC's Access All podcast.