Assisted dying law 'set to be stopped' by House of Lords
Supporters of assisted dying laws have warned the legislation could be halted by the House of Lords after peers tabled more than 1,000 amendments.Lord Falconer of Thornton, who is sponsoring the controversial legislation in Parliament's upper chamber, claimed it is set to 'fail through lack of time'.He issued the warning ahead of the Lords reconvening on Friday to continue their detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.Peers who are opposed to assisted dying have been accused of time-wasting and obstructing the legislation as a means of sabotaging the Bill's progress.But critics of the Bill have said major changes are needed to fill 'massive gaps' and suggested the 'badly-written' legislation is currently unsafe.The Bill will become law only if both the House of Commons and the Lords agree on the final drafting of the legislation.Approval is needed before spring when the current session of Parliament ends, with peers still yet to consider vast swathes of proposed changes. Supporters of assisted dying laws have warned the legislation could be halted by the House of Lords after peers tabled more than 1,000 amendments Lord Falconer of Thornton, who is sponsoring the controversial legislation in Parliament's upper chamber, claimed it is set to 'fail through lack of time'Lord Falconer, the Labour peer and former Cabinet minister, tabled a motion on Thursday to request 'further time' for the Lords to complete its deliberations.'The assisted dying Bill commands strong views... and is of huge public interest in terms of not only its content but its progress through our Parliament - and not least how we in this House conduct our scrutiny of it,' Lord Falconer said.'Over 1,000 amendments in committee have been tabled, arranged into approximately 84 groups.'So far, we have spent in total some 32 hours in this House scrutinising the Bill, and we have another 50 hours scheduled.'However, in four days of committee - about 17 hours - we have considered only 10 groups. If we continue at the rate we are going, this House will fail to complete the process of scrutiny.'We will reach no conclusions on the Bill as to how it should be amended or whether it should return to the Commons.'Instead, the Bill will fail through lack of time - this despite the fact that it came to this House in June of last year after extensive scrutiny in the Commons and received in this House an unopposed second reading after a two-day debate with 110 speakers.'Peers later backed Lord Falconer's motion asking for extra time to consider the Bill, although the motion is non-binding and ministers said the Bill would have to continue its progress in the Lords outside of Government time.Lord Kennedy of Southwark, Labour's chief whip in the Lords, pointed out that as the Government was neutral on the legislation he could not give any firm commitments on what would happen next.He said he would look to hold 'urgent discussions' early next week 'to seek to find a way forward to deliver on what the House has just agreed' but made clear it would not be in Government time.If passed, the Bill will allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.After passing its initial stages in the Commons, the Bill has been slow to progress through the Lords as changes - such as potentially stronger assessments for young people seeking an assisted death and further safeguards to prevent so-called 'death tourism' - have been debated.Assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, who has repeatedly urged members of the Lords not to block the landmark legislation, has warned that 'scrutiny must not tip into sabotage'.A source close to peers concerned about the Bill said: 'This shows that this Bill is in such a poor state that it needs an extraordinary amount of time for the Lords to do their job of scrutinising these new laws properly.'After evidence given to the Lords we know that there are extensive issues with the Bill, especially around the danger it poses to vulnerable groups.'Not a single Royal College, Professional body or Cabinet minister will attest to the safety of this bill.'Scrutiny should never be conflated with obstruction and the duty of the Lords is to scrutinise and interrogate legislation, a role which is even more important when considering issues of life and death.'The Bill was narrowly approved at third reading by MPs in the Commons in June last year, and received an unopposed second reading in the Lords in September before proceeding to committee stage.
