Volunteers and medics joined an anti-euthanasia protest in Westminster on Monday 29 April, while MPs considered changing the law around assisted suicide. Ministers are debating assisted dying after a petition on discussing the controversial issue gained more than 200,000 signatures. Demonstrators on both sides of the argument gathered ahead of the Westminster Hall debate, at which there will not be a vote. A number of high-profile figures have spoken out on the issue in recent months. Dame Esther Rantzen, who has stage four lung cancer and backed the petition, has vowed to watch the debate closely, saying a change in the law “would mean that I could look forward in confidence to a death which is pain-free surrounded by people I love”.