EPAOn Friday, after weeks of fierce and passionate debate, MPs began their formal scrutiny of the bill that would allow terminally ill adults expected to die within six months to seek help to end their own life. It was a day of tears, hope, relief and fear. This is the story of how it unfolded inside and outside of parliament – and how Labour MP Kim Leadbeater secured a historic win for her proposed law. It is nine in the morning. The MPs’ debate hasn’t started yet but campaigners on both sides are already gathering outside the Houses of Parliament.Those in favour of Leadbeater’s bill are on the west side of Parliament Square, by the statue of activist Millicent Fawcett.It is a sea of pink hats and pink jumpers, provided by the Dignity in Dying group.Amanda, whose surname we are not using as with many of our other interviewees, has come from Brighton to be here. She has cared for people in their final stages of their life, including one friend with cancer.She remembers her friend pleading with her to “kill me now, kill me now”. “That’s an awful thing for someone to hear their loved ones say.” Another women called Sue is here, also wearing a pink hat. “I think this could be a momentous day,” she says. PA MediaAround the corner, less than a minute’s walk away on College Green, those opposed to the bill are also gathering.They are joined by a 10ft-tall puppet of a severe judge, holding a giant syringe and pointing a condemning finger into the air.“Kill the bill, not the ill,” they chant.Hannah is a little further back, looking on and puffing on a lemon meringue pie-flavoured vape.She fears the bill will change the way disabled people are viewed but is also thinking about her father.“He was given six months but ended up living for four years,” she says. “Living those four years meant he was able to meet his grandchildren.”More on assisted dying:Nearly everyone at both demonstrations has a personal tale; a personal reason for being in Westminster on Friday.Jane cared for her mother in her last years. She says that time was difficult but also “very precious” to her.She thinks the bill would push people like her mum into asking for an assisted death.“I know a judge would be involved in deciding these things but how can they tell what is in someone’s soul?” she says. “Someone can say with their mouth that they want to die, but how can a judge know what is really going on inside their head.”Meanwhile, inside parliament, after weeks of discussion, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater opens the debate of her bill.Leadbeater is the MP for Spen Valley, an area previously represented by her sister Jo Cox, the MP who was assassinated in 2016. The atmosphere is generally contemplative, thoughtful and respectful, but outside of Parliament tempers are starting to fray.The two sides have mostly kept to their separate areas but at the gates of parliament, some campaigners are starting to clash.One woman, in favour of assisted dying, holds up harrowing pictures of her father who is still alive but dying and in pain.She points to parliament and then to the pictures. “I want someone in there to tell me why that is OK,” she says. A woman nearby holds a placard opposing the bill. It reads: “NHS: It’s cradle to grav …
