The Bishop of Penrith has signed a letter from Church of England clergy saying that the assisted dying bill presents a ‘dangerous threat’ to society.

MPs will vote this week on whether to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people in a controversial debate.

Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater’s legislation will come before the Commons on Friday, with the first debate and vote of its kind in the House since 2015.

Members will be given a free vote on the issue, allowing them to make a decision according to their own conscience rather than in line with party policy

Opponents to changing the law have argued some people could feel pressured to have an assisted death against their will, and have called for more focus on improving and ensuring equal access to palliative care.

Campaigners who are terminally ill or have watched loved ones die in pain have called the existing legislation “unbelievably cruel” and pointed out that animals suffering severely can be legally euthanised.

Faith leaders have condemned the proposals and more than 1,000 Church of England priests – including the Bishop of Penrith, the Rt Rev'd Rob Saner-Haigh and six other priests in the Diocese of Carlisle – have signed a letter calling on MPs to vote against the proposals.

The letter said that in other parts of the world where assisted dying is legal, it has been widened to non-terminal conditions including mental illness.

The letter says: “This risk applies mostly to those in society who are already vulnerable: the elderly, the poor, the mentally unwell, the long-term sick, the lonely and isolated.

“The option of death should not be put to anyone in society, least of all those already disadvantaged by a culture that seems to value only productivity and success.

“The real answer to these issues is multi-layered but must include greater investment in hospice and palliative care, further medical research into effective pain relief and treatment, and support for the families of those who are dying.

“These concerns ought to be the urgent concern of our parliamentarians, not legislating to provide an option of death for the suffering.

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“To reduce the value of human life to physical and mental capacity and wellbeing has sinister implications for how we as a society view those who experience severe physical or mental issues, and risks that those undergoing such suffering come to see their life as of less value than others.

“Once legislation is made, society itself risks coming to see these lives as of less value, too.

“We must resist this culture of death by seeking to improve quality of life for all the living.”