'It's cruel and inhumane to force people to go on living against their will'

ONE of Britain's most senior judges backs urgent reform of "cruel and inhumane" assisted dying laws.

- Giles Sheldrick

Baroness Brenda Hale, former president of the Supreme Court, in a stunning intervention blasts the failure of successive governments to act on the will of the people.

Promises of reform have not materialised and death by choice remains illegal - despite a vociferous campaign mounted by those who are terminally ill and those who are not but endure intolerable suffering.

Baroness Hale, who famously read the 2019 Supreme Court judgment that ruled Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament was unlawful, said: "Parliament has not put things right despite all the evidence that the public would support a change in the law."

Her powerful advocacy for the right to die is a boost for the Daily Express campaign to change outdated laws that punish those aiding and abetting death with 14 years in jail.

The former Law Lord spoke ahead of the 10th anniversary tomorrow of a historic ruling against the right to die in which the Supreme Court found it was for Parliament to decide. The decision came after Tony Nicklinson fought for the right to legally end his life.

He was paralysed from the neck down after a stroke in 2005 and had locked-in syndrome, describing his life as a "living nightmare".

Mr Nicklinson, from Melksham, Wilts, took his case to the High Court in 2012.