The last time MPs voted on the question of assisted dying – nearly three quarters were against it.
Nine years later – polling suggests two thirds of the country would back a change in the law.
That ratio is mirrored in the number of cabinet ministers who’ve so far publicly declared their position, with 10 for and five against (only nine have obeyed the instruction from Cabinet Secretary Simon Case not to get involved).
But the bill’s cabinet opponents have made some of the most high-profile interventions in the debate.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood are the two individuals who would be most responsible for seeing the legislation translate into practical reality for the NHS and court system.
They’ve raised similar concerns about the safeguards in place around vulnerable patients feeling pressured or coerced into taking their own lives.
Ms Mahmood also has a fundamental objection to such a paradigm shift in the role of the state from protecting the lives of its citizens, to helping end them. Her warning about “the slippery slope towards death on demand” will be chilling reading for many.
Will these arguments sow the seeds of doubt among MPs who had originally been leaning the other way?
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