Twenty-three MPs have been appointed to a committee that will lead the next stage of progress towards legalising assisted dying.

The group includes 14 who voted in favour of changing the law at second reading last month and nine opponents.

Minister for end-of-life care Stephen Kinnock and justice minister Sarah Sackman are among the Bill’s supporters who were chosen.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the legislation, said the selection “reflects the range of views expressed in the debate as well as the make-up of the House itself”.

She added: “The bill committee will bring together colleagues with differing views and valuable experience in order to give the bill the detailed scrutiny it deserves and requires.

“I am confident the bill will receive detailed scrutiny to ensure that both Houses of Parliament are presented with legislation for further consideration that is workable and rigorous in terms of the rights it confers and the safeguards and protections it affords.”

MPs joining the committee include Conservative Danny Kruger, who led opposition during the November 29 debate argued that the bill was too deeply flawed to be safely introduced.

Other opponents selected include Labour MPs Naz Shah, Daniel Francis and Jack Abbott and Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney.

Meanwhile, disability activist Marie Tidball also joined the committee after voting in favour of the Bill - a decision she described as “one of the hardest I have had to make”.

Tory backbencher Kit Malthouse and Labour’s Dr Simon Opher, Jake Richards and Bambos Charalambos are among other supporters appointed.

Committee members were nominated by the Committee of Selection, which is composed almost entirely of government and opposition whips.

The panel is will take evidence from experts in the New Year before scrutinising the Bill and examining any amendments put forward.

A report stage is expected to follow in April, before MPs vote on the bill again at a third reading.

The landmark vote last month - when MPs backed the Bill by 330 votes to 275 - followed almost three years of campaigning by the Daily Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade and supporters including Dame Esther Rantzen.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of campaign group Dignity in Dying, said: “MPs have made history by voting to progress a long-overdue conversation about how we die in this country.

“This is the furthest an assisted dying Bill has ever reached in the Commons, offering hope to families up and down the country of greater choice and safety at the end of life.

“MPs from all sides of this debate acknowledge that our current system does not work. Now the debate rightly moves on to how Parliament can ensure the law is finally fit for how we live and die in the 21^st century.”