Express has given a voice to terminally ill people and those who have seen loved ones endure suffering

KIM Leadbeater opened her speech with the famous saying that there are two things certain in life – death and taxes.

- By Hanna Geissler Health Editor

Well, it turns out there's now a third – technology will fail at a critical moment.

As Dignity in Dying campaigners waited anxiously around a speaker in Parliament Square to listen to a news channel broadcasting the vote result, a victorious shout went up from another nearby group.

There was a moment of confusion as the crowd tried to work out whether they were supporters or opponents – and then the news we had been waiting for finally rippled through the crowd.

Our news channel was on a lag and the result had already been announced – 314 to 291 in favour. Shouts of “We won” rang out and there were tears of joy as pent-up nerves transformed into relief and elation. It was truly breathtaking to witness a historic moment that has been years in the making.

The Daily Express joined the fight to legalise assisted dying more than three years ago, after it became clear that Parliament was out of step with the public's views.

Our relentless Give Us Our Last Rights crusade has given a voice to terminally ill people and those who have seen loved ones endure terrible suffering, or undertake stressful journeys to the Dignitas facility in Switzerland.

It all started in early 2022 in a Suffolk garden. I sat with blood cancer patient David Minns as he explained with astonishing clarity why he wanted the option to request medical assistance to die.

David had already seen his daughter Katie suffer a horrific death from another cancer, sarcoma, the previous year.