Sarco-suicide pods will come to Britain, says maker: MPs claim assisted dying bill is so well supported it is likely to be passed

Sarco’s ‘death pods’ will come to Britain if assisted dying is made legal, the doctor behind the creation has said – as some MPs claim the bill will pass.

Dr. Phillip Nitschke, 77, revealed he is ready to launch his 3D-printed portable machine that fills with nitrogen gas in Britain should Kim Leadbeater’s legislation pass.

MPs will take part in a vote this week on whether assisted dying for terminally ill people should be legalised, after a row over ministerial criticism of the bill deepened on Sunday.

Ms Leadbeater’s legislation will be brought before the House of Commons on Friday, with the first debate and vote of its kind in the House since 2015.

Members are given a free vote on the issue, allowing them to make a decision based on their own conscience rather than in accordance with party policy.

Dr. Nitschke said his machine could prove popular with people who opt for assisted death but don’t want to end their lives via lethal injection or drug cocktails.

He told The Telegraph: ‘It seems to me that it will just provide an additional option for those who don’t want the needle and who don’t want the drink.’

It comes after Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood criticized the legislation and made it clear she would vote against it in a strongly worded letter to voters published this weekend.

Ms Mahmood said the bill could open the door to a ‘slippery slope to death on demand’, while Health Secretary Wes Streeting also faced a backlash for suggesting it could cost the NHS more.

In a letter last month, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case said the government would remain neutral and suggested ministers not participate in the public debate on the issue.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has refused to say which way he will vote, arguing he does not want to put pressure on other MPs.

The cabinet is divided on the issue and it is believed that more members are in favor than against.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband have all said they will support the bill.

Others, including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, have been less explicit but have expressed support for the measures in the bill.

Meanwhile, Ms Mahmood, Mr Streeting and Education Minister Bridget Phillipson and Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds have said they will reject the legislation.

Ms Kendall defended her Cabinet colleagues who expressed “strong views” on the bill as she spoke to broadcasters on Sunday morning.

But Labor colleague Lord Falconer, a former justice secretary and long-time supporter of a change in the law, criticized the justice secretary’s intervention on Sunday.

He told the Guardian that ministers who spoke out against the bill were “breaking the rules in spectacular fashion” and giving the “false impression” that their departments were also against it.

“The rule breakers get more attention because they break the rules so spectacularly,” he said.

Supporters of the bill are optimistic that it has enough support for the legislation to pass the first House of Commons hurdle, but the outcome will not be known until a distribution list showing how MPs voted is published after the vote.

Advocates argue that existing law does not respect patient autonomy and financially differentiates between those who can afford to travel abroad to end their lives within the law and those who cannot.

Many of those opposed to a change in the law have raised concerns about the potential for coercion and mission creep, saying the legislation was rushed through.

A group of 29 faith leaders joined together in a joint letter on Sunday to oppose the bill, saying they were “deeply concerned” that it could open up the possibility of “life-threatening abuse.”

Ms Leadbeater has described the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as the most “robust” bill in the world, with “three layers of scrutiny” in the form of an endorsement by two doctors and a High Court judge.

It would also criminalize coercion, with a possible penalty of fourteen years in prison.

The bill, which covers England and Wales, states that only terminally ill adults with less than six months to live and a firm desire to die would be eligible.

• For help and support, call the Samaritans free from a UK phone, completely anonymously, on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org