The Health Secretary has said he is against a change in the law to allow terminally ill people to be given assistance to end their lives.

The Labour MP leading the campaign to legalise assisted dying has criticised Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, for “very vocally” opposing the move. Kim Leadbeater said Mr Streeting’s repeated public comments against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill were “quite disappointing and quite upsetting”.

Infighting has broken out in Labour after Wes Streeting made yet another high-profile intervention opposing the forthcoming assisted dying vote. The Health Secretary has become the most vocal and most senior voice in the Labour Party arguing against MPs backing Kim Leadbeater’s Private Members' Bill.

The Health Secretary said he had asked his department to analyse the costs of implementing any change in the law on assisted dying.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is facing pushback from senior Labour figures over his repeated strident interventions against a move to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. MPs will have their say on the issue later this month – in what is known as a free vote,

Implementing a new assisted dying law would come at the expense of other NHS services, the health secretary has suggested. Wes Streeting, who once supported assisted dying, plans to vote against the new Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill later this month,