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Maureen Burke, the Labour MP for Glasgow North East, has just shared a moving story about her brother.

She says David, when he was 52 was suddenly diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.

"Over the next 18 months, David tried everything he could to stay alive," she says.

But Burke says nothing was successful and by the end of his life, David was living in a hospital bed at home, with increasing doses of painkillers.

"His body became skeletal and his speech gradually disappeared, and one of the last times when he still was able to speak, he called out to me from his bed and told me if there was a pill that he could take to end his life, he would very much like to take that," she goes on.

Burke - with MPs behind her appearing to be emotional - says David continued to "suffer in silent pain for a further three weeks",

She says that he is doing "right by her brother" in speaking in support of assisted dying.

Yesterday, Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft resigned as a government whip over her party's approach to welfare reforms.

She spoke in the chamber today to outline which she could not support assisted dying - and spoke about how it would impact disabled people.

Foxcroft said: "I don't claim that every disabled person opposes assisted dying, but I do claim that the vast majority of disabled people and their organisations oppose it.

"They need the health and social care system fixing first. They want us as parliamentarians to assist them to live, not to die.

"Disabled people's voices matter in this debate, and yet, as I've watched the bill progress, the absence of disabled people's voices has been astonishing.

"They have wanted to engage. Indeed, they have been crying out to be included, yet the engagement has been negligible."

She highlights, for example, the lack of accessible versions of the legislation. 

It's 12.30pm, which means we have just two hours left on the assisted dying debate.

This is because the Commons only give until 2.30pm for private members bills to be debated on Fridays.

Having had around two hours of debate already, this means we are around halfway through proceedings.

We're expecting the votes to happen around 2pm, but these things are all up in the air, as is the way when it comes to parliamentary proceedings.

Deputy Speaker Nus Ghani reminds speakers they have limited time and some won't get to contribute. 

MP reads constituent's emotional letter

MPs from both sides of the debate are continuing their debate on the assisted dying bill.

Josh Babarinbe, a Lib Dem MP, shares a harrowing tale from a constituent that found their terminally ill partner who stuffed sheets into his mouth in an attempt to end his own life.

"It was the most distressing sight, and one I will never forget," Babrimbe reads to the House.

Bill will 'put back' case for assisted dying

Another Lib Dem MP - Sarah Olney - then stands up to speak.

She says she was on the committee to decide on amendments. Olney warns that they had to make decisions without the correct knowledge, and in a view to win votes rather than provide the best legislation.

The MP then warns that the legislation will get caught up in legal challenges and other hurdles even if it does pass.

Olney adds that "if this bill passes, the case for assisted dying will be fatally undermined and put back their cause for a generation".

She also warned that - if the Royal College of Psychiatrists opposed the legislation - there may not be enough practitioners to staff the panels that would decide on applications for assisted dying.

The view of a doctor

Peter Prinsley, the Labour MP and doctor, speaks in support of the bill.

He speaks of his time seeing the loss of "dignity" in people with "disfiguring head and neck cancers".

He then goes on to say does not "think we will see coercion to undergo assisted dying families".

After the first couple of speeches, Sir Roger Gale - standing in for the Speaker - tells MPs how limited for time the debate is.

With proceedings having to wind up by 2.30pm, and speeches supposed to only last five minutes, some simple maths shows that just over 30 MPs will be able to speak.

Sir Roger says: "It's understandable that a lot of members would wish to take part on both sides of the House and in both sides of the argument.

"Looking around, it's quite clear we cannot accommodate everybody.

"That means that inevitably, it is likely that will be quite a considerable number of interventions.

"All I would say gently, is that interventions will be taken into account when considering the order of priority in which members are called."

This means that those who tend to get picked to speak towards the end of the debate - like Jim Shannon - may end up intervening more as they know they will not get called.

 Labour MP Diane Abbott is the next to speak - and is ardently against the bill.

She calls it "poorly drafted" and says "so much" of it is "problematic" with it.

Like James Cleverly she criticises the way in which the committee stage was handled.

This includes the rejection of attempts to restrict the profits that private medical operators could potentially make on assisted dying.

She also raises her concerns about lack of protections from institutions.

 James Cleverly, a former senior government minister and Tory leadership hopeful, leads the debate for opponents of the bill.

He says he does not oppose it from a religious perspective - as he is an atheist - and he has also experienced terminal illness upfront - one of his closest friends died of cancer recently.

Cleverly goes on to say that what was promised in terms of protections in the bill did not materialise at the committee stage.

And he then goes on to refute some of Kim Leadbeater's big arguments.

Cleverly says: "Whilst I respect the honourable lady, I disagree with her assessment that it is now or never.

"And it is this bill or no bill. 

"And that's a vote against this at third reading is a vote to maintain the status quo. 

"None of those things are true."

He pays tribute to Leadbeater for bringing the debate - but says the legislation could be done better in the future.

 After a number of votes - and accusations of time wasting - on amendments, the main debate for today on assisted dying is underway.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is proposing the legislation and is kicking things off with a speech.

She says it is an "honour and a privilege to do so".

The MP adds that it is "not often we are asked to wrestle with issues of morality, ethics and humanity".

Leadbeater says there are "good deaths and there are bad deaths - and I, like many, have experienced both".

She also praises the way in which the debates have been carried out in the past.

While Leadbeater is delivering a fairly chunky speech, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle says that most MPs should limit themselves to five minute contributions.

In here speech, Leadbeater takes some questions from MPs - including those opposed to her bill.

Asked by multiple MPs how she responds to various experts - psychiatrists and palliative practitioners particularly - saying the bill is not a good one, Leadbeater says there is a range of opinions in different professions.

The Labour MP says that voting against her specific bill is a vote in support of the status quo.

This is a position challenged by Richard Burgon  - another Labour MP - on the basis that many experts don't oppose assisted dying in principle but this specific bill.

But Leadbeater repeats her earlier rejection - that different experts have different opinions.

We spoke too soon on our last post - one of the amendments we expected to go through on without a vote is now being voted on due to some objections in the chamber.

This amendment looks to be expanding the powers of the bill to the whole of the UK, rather than just England and Wales.

Sky political correspondent Liz Bates says that one MP who is supporting the bill has told her this vote is a delaying tactic from those opposed to it.

The Conservative benches look a bit emptier than Labour's - and the Tories tend to be more opposed to assisted dying, so this might be a contributory factor.

The amendment passes by 66 votes - 275 to 209.

And then we get another surprise vote... so again this could be more stalling.

The votes taking place in the House of Commons at the moment are somewhat of a technicality.

The most recent change that went to a vote was defeated 266 to 213. 

This is a majority of 53.

Interestingly, it is the same majority as the previous vote - but with fewer MPs.

This shows that, while more MPs are arriving in the chamber, the balance of voting is staying consistent.

It's also worth remembering that the bill passed by a majority of 55 in November at the last vote.

Some amendments are going through "on the nod" - without a vote.

This is because they already have broad support from the House of Commons.