Extra days added for peers to debate assisted dying bill
Peers have been given an extra 10 days to review assisted dying legislation after a record number of amendments sparked fears it would expire.
The bill was supported by MPs in a historic vote in June and is now in its final stages in the House of Lords; here, peers must agree on the text of the legislation for the bill to become law.
It is feared that opponents are trying to stall the bill by demanding a record number of amendments and making very slow progress in debating them.
Because the bill was drafted as a private member’s bill by Labor MP Kim Leadbeater, there is a tough deadline on when agreement must be reached with colleagues.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will only become law if the House of Commons and the House of Lords agree on the final draft of the legislation; This approval must be required before the current session of Parliament ends in the spring.
If approved, the bill will allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live to apply for assisted dying, subject to approval by a panel including two doctors and a social worker, senior lawyer and psychiatrist.
Critics and opponents of the bill have insisted the law needs to be significantly redrafted to ensure any system properly protects vulnerable people.
But after two of four days devoted to the committee stage, which examines the bill line by line, his colleagues managed to debate fewer than 30 of the more than 1,000 amendments submitted.
With only two more sessions planned before the end of the year, Childline founder Dame Esther Rantzen, who has terminal cancer, warned colleagues last week not to “sabotage democracy”.
Leadbeater also noted that “some of the processes and procedures that may be used Used to frustrate the billand this is extremely disappointing and sad.”
Now the government’s chief whip in the Lords has announced that there will be 10 extra Fridays for debate in the Lords, spread over several weeks in the New Year between 9 January and 24 April.
Lord Roy Kennedy said that, given the number of amendments, “it is clear that the House requires additional time to consider the bill.”
He said: “I have always been clear that because this government is neutral on the bill, there will be no extension of government time.
“I also believe that, given the importance of the issue and the number of colleagues who wish to participate, this review cannot take place in the Grand Committee, as some have suggested to me.
“I have therefore arranged for the House to sit on an additional eight Fridays in the New Year, in addition to the three already announced.”
He added that, given its neutral stance, the government was not trying to “prescribe” how the Bill would proceed.
Welcoming the decision, Backbencher Leadbeater said he was pleased to be given the extra day to deal with the numerous changes.
“It is right that peers use their expertise and experience to properly review the law and, where necessary, recommend improvements to strengthen it,” he said.
“These extra days provide an unprecedented amount of debate time for the private members’ bill.
“There is little doubt that these days, if used responsibly and constructively, will allow the Bill to progress through the House of Lords and allow Parliament to give dying people choice and dignity in their final days and protect their loved ones from the threat of prosecution.”
Lord Charlie Falconer, who is leading the bill through the Lords, said the extra dates meant there would be 16 days until April 24 for the bill to be considered in the Lords.
