Labour proposed in opposition how to introduce assisted dying via private member’s bill

Campaigners hold placards at a protest in support of the assisted dying bill in Parliament Square, London, in September. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

Labour proposed while in opposition how to introduce assisted dying via a private member’s bill, suggesting that would still allow “heavy influence” for the government in the process, a leaked document has revealed.

The document, seen by the Guardian, proposed a change strikingly similar to the private member’s bill put forward eventually by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater – to limit the change in the law to those who are “mentally competent, terminally ill and have a prognosis of less than six months left to live”.