Between 5,000 and 6,000 people a year will kill themselves using a proposed change to the law on assisted dying, critics and supporters of the reforms have told GB News.
The new estimate is far in excess of the estimate by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who proposed that fewer than 1,000 patients a year in England and Wales are expected to choose assisted dying should the law pass.
The Government is officially neutral on Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and has not published an impact statement to estimate many people might kill themselves under the new powers.
However, a critic and supporter of the proposals both told Chopper's Political Podcast - out today - that it will be between 5,000 and 6,000 a year.
Tory MP Neil Shastri-Hurst - who supports the proposals - floated the figure of 5,000 to 6,000
GB News
Tory MP Neil Shastri-Hurst - who supports the proposals - said: "I've heard a figure of about 5,000 or 6000. I think that's probably the ballpark we're in.
"The Government has set out the reasons for not doing an impact assessment at this stage. There are arguments for and against - inevitably, the bill will be refined as we go through the committee stage."
Shastri-Hurst - a surgeon - said he had been troubled seeing people die and being unable to ease their pain.
POLITICS LATEST:
Nikki Da Costa said that the numbers of people killing themselves would be 'in the thousands'
GB News
He told them that he can "make you as comfortable as possible" but he added: "There are certain patients that stay with you. And there is a graveyard in my mind of those that I felt I let down, because I couldn't. I could do the best I could, but that didn't necessarily stop their suffering."
Also on Chopper's Political Podcast, Nikki Da Costa, a former director of legislative affairs in Boris Johnson's 10 Downing Street, said that the number of people killing themselves would be "in the thousands".
She said: "I think we are looking in the thousands. At the moment I'm actually looking into this in detail, but I think we would be looking maybe at about 5000 people a year. It's quite substantial."
MPs voted in support of a proposal to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales last November, and are currently debating the reforms in the House of Commons.
Christopher Hope speaks to Nikki Da Costa on Chopper's Political Podcast
GB News
Protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in London as MPs debate and vote on the Assisted Dying Bill
PA
Demonstrators, including Humanists UK's members and supporters, during a protest outside the Houses of Parliament
PA
They will allow adults aged 18 and over, who have mental capacity, to request assistance from a doctor to die if they are terminally ill and are in the final six months of their life, .
They must have a "clear, settled and informed wish to end their own life" and have reached this decision voluntarily, without coercion or pressure.
The decision is then approved by two doctors, then a High Court judge - although this may change - and then the person who wants to end their lives must make a witnessed declaration to that effect after 14 days.
Listen to Chopper's Political Podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts or watch it on GB News' YouTube channel.
