'Assisted dying could have helped Debbie Purdy'

Ms Penrose, who also has MS, said: “It is still upsetting as Debbie worked so hard to try and get this bill passed, she had a normal lifestyle, she got married, she was happy, but suddenly she was struck by MS.

“Unfortunately, her MS was more aggressive than what mine is and she didn’t have the quality of life she wanted and had to take it into her own hands, which was a long, long process for her and it is upsetting she had to go through all that.”

Ms Purdy died in 2014 at the age of 51 after campaigning for the right-to-die and spent her last year in the city's Marie Curie Hospice, sometimes refusing food before her death.

In 2009, she also won a landmark ruling to clarify the law on assisted suicide and find out if her husband would get prosecuted if he helped her to end her life.