Exclusive: Cross-party group’s letter comes after health secretary said he doubted NHS could enact the change

A cross-party group of MPs who are practising medics and former NHS staff have written to MPs urging them to back the assisted dying bill, after the health secretary expressed doubt that the health service was fit to enact such a big change.

The six Labour and Conservative MPs, including two GPs and two surgeons, said they had extensive experience of working in and around palliative care and stressed that a tightly defined bill would give dying patients genuine choice.