Peers to mount fresh offensive to halt assisted dying bill | Assisted dying

Peers will launch a new offensive to end the assisted dying bill on Friday, tabling almost 1,000 new amendments to the legislation in a bid to reduce the time.

More than half of the 942 amendments were tabled by just seven members of the House of Lords, all vocal opponents of assisted dying (AD). A source familiar with the bill said it was possible it could be filibustered if its peers put many amendments up for a vote.

The bill – which was originally a private member’s bill by Labor MP Kim Leadbeater – was passed by the House of Commons in June and is now before the House of Lords.

On Thursday evening, 65 peers, including two cabinet secretaries, former Labor leader Neil Kinnock and former Tory leader Ruth Davidson, warned that it would be undemocratic for the Lords to reject the bill after it had been passed by a reasonable majority in the Commons.

Its opponents argue that the bill is not in the government’s program and therefore the rules on the primacy of the Commons do not apply. Unlike the Commons, the Lord Speaker does not have the power to choose or group amendments to limit them.

Signatories to the letter, including Gus O’Donnell, Andrew Turnbull, former Lords speaker Helene Hayman, scientist Robert Winston, as well as Kinnock, Davidson and former Greens leader Natalie Bennett, said it was not the Lords’ job to stop the bill.

“Our role is to test and refine the Bill where real improvements can be made, while respecting both the will of the Commons and the overwhelming support of the public.

“It is not our role to thwart the clear democratic mandate expressed by elected deputies. »

He added: “This is an issue of immense public importance, which has the support of all of society. The public rightly expects this House to conduct its review with integrity, care and a focus on practical improvement.

“We owe it to the dying to use every available time to make this law enforceable, safe and compassionate. »

Responding to the letter, Labour’s Luciana Berger, who opposed the bill, said: “The Lords select committee took evidence from a wide range of professional bodies and organisations, including the EHRC, who strongly refuted any suggestion that this bill was safe or workable, with the EHRC itself strongly criticizing the government’s equality impact assessment.

“We’ve also heard that the development of palliative care has slowed in legislatures that introduced Alzheimer’s. This bill is full of loopholes that vulnerable people risk falling into and suffering harm if their peers don’t act to change and amend it.”

Among those who tabled amendments to the bill are Ilora Finlay, a former doctor who campaigned against assisted dying, as well as former Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, who was one of the leading voices speaking to MPs to try to persuade them that the bill would put disabled people at risk.

Both tabled more than 100 amendments. Former Health Secretary Thérèse Coffey filed 60.

Supporters of the bill said the bill was still expected to pass and most peers would expect to follow convention. One said he was “confident that there is a clear majority among the Lords – including both opponents and supporters of the Bill – who believe that the upper house should consider but not seek to frustrate the will of the elected chamber”.