An assisted dying campaigner will be coming to the island to speak to Tynwald members on the matter next week.

Nathan Stilwell from Humanists UK will be in the island on October 25 and 26.

Nathan is a long-standing advocate of the right to die, and is a full-time campaigner for the cause. He is also the communications and campaign manager for non-profit My Death, My Decision.

Local humanist celebrant and Chair of My Death, My Decision in the island, Vicky Christian said: ‘I am delighted that Nathan Stilwell is visiting the island to speak to Tynwald members and local campaigners who are campaigning for kind and caring legislation.

‘In my role as a local humanist celebrant, I meet grieving families after someone has died, and this has deepened my interest in end-of-life matters.

‘People in the Isle of Man desperately want to see a change in the law that allows people who are dying in pain, suffering and indignity to have a choice at the end of their lives. There is no good reason why adults who are suffering from an incurable, intolerable disease should be forced to continue against their wills.

‘I value Nathan’s support as we strive to achieve this legislation.’

Chaplain to the Bishop of Buckingham, Canon Rosie Harper, has sent MHKs a letter detailing why she, as a religious minister is in support of assisted dying legislation.

She writes: ‘A more compassionate law would spare some people the pain and indignity of being compelled to live when they would choose to die.

‘We are still left with the scenario that we have to stand at the end of the bed, knowing that the person wants to die, but telling them that the law knows better, and they must live. So is that how God wants it to be?

‘We spend the whole of our Christian lives experiencing God as loving and compassionate.

‘So often in the gospels Jesus sees a person in need, and before he heals them we are told he has compassion.

‘What makes us imagine that just when we need his love and compassion the most, God turns into a tyrant who requires of us the most extreme suffering in order to shore up his own sovereignty?’