Blue Labour leader Dan Carden switches to vote against assisted dying bill

Dan Carden said legalising assisted dying would ‘normalise the choice of death over life, care, respect and love’. Photograph: Parliament TV

The leader of the Blue Labour group has said he will vote against the assisted dying bill – one of the most high-profile switchers – as both sides make their final pleas to MPs before Friday’s crunch vote.

It comes as campaigners and bereaved relatives joined the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater ahead of the third reading of the bill, to urge parliament to back the reforms, saying it would be at least a decade before another chance to change the law.