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Members of the House of Lords have expressed support for extending the time allocated to debate the assisted dying bill. Advocates of the legislation are growing increasingly worried that the bill may not complete all its parliamentary stages before the current session concludes in early May. While the bill has already received approval from the House of Commons, it still requires the Lords’ consent to become law.
Discussions are ongoing behind closed doors among peers to decide both the timing and length of any potential extension. One suggestion involves lengthening the debates scheduled on Fridays, though this proposal faces opposition from some Jewish Lords due to the observance of the Shabbat starting at sunset. Despite having been granted an additional ten sitting sessions, concerns remain that the bill may not progress fully through its lengthy process, especially since it faces over 1,000 proposed amendments.
Supporters argue these numerous amendments, believed to be a record for a backbench MP’s bill, represent a deliberate tactic to delay the legislation’s passage. Conversely, critics maintain they are not intentionally obstructing the bill but contend that substantial revisions are essential to ensure the law is safe and adequately protects vulnerable individuals. The bill itself aims to permit terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with a prognosis of fewer than six months to live, to request assistance in dying under strict safeguards.
Leading the bill’s progress through the Lords, Lord Falconer has put forward the call for more time to allow thorough consideration. During a debate, he cautioned that failing to reach a timely conclusion “would significantly damage the reputation” of the House. Baroness Butler-Sloss, a former Lord Justice of Appeal, echoed this concern, stating, “I don’t like the Bill, but we have it, and we have to deal with it.” However, opposition voices like Conservative Lord Shinkwin, who lives with the rare brittle bone disease osteogenesis imperfecta, expressed that “peers had already been generous with our time” and questioned whether additional time would improve a bill he described as poorly drafted and unsafe. A source close to peers critical of the bill remarked that “supporters of assisted dying seem determined to keep complaining about the process in the Lords rather than engaging with significant failings in the bill.” Meanwhile, the government’s chief whip in the Lords, Lord Kennedy, announced plans to hold urgent discussions in the coming week to find a way forward aligned with the House’s recent agreement
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