The UK’s controversial assisted dying legislation, known formally as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, has cleared a major hurdle by passing the House of Commons but now faces an uncertain future in the House of Lords, where its prospects of becoming law are in jeopardy amid intense debate and procedural slowdown.
The bill, sponsored by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales who are judged to have less than six months to live and meet a series of eligibility criteria. In June, MPs voted in favour of the legislation by a majority in the Commons, marking a historic step towards legal change that would permit people with terminal diagnoses to choose to end their lives under strict conditions.
However, the Commons victory is only the beginning of a long parliamentary journey. In the unelected House of Lords, peers are conducting detailed scrutiny of the bill at committee stage, where amendments are considered line by line. Unlike in the Commons, where there are time limits and structured selection of amendments, the Lords’ committee process allows any peer to table changes and insist on debate. As of early December, more than 1,100 amendments have been submitted, a volume that has alarmed campaigners and the bill’s backers who believe many of these changes are aimed less at improving the bill than at delaying its progress.
Senior figures from across the political spectrum who previously opposed assisted dying have urged peers not to deliberately obstruct the bill, warning that protracted delays risk the legislation running out of parliamentary time before it reaches a final vote in the Lords. Critics argue this situation undermines democratic legitimacy, since the bill was approved by the elected Commons and is supported by a significant portion of public opinion.
Opponents of the bill in the Lords, however, defend their approach as necessary scrutiny on a deeply sensitive ethical issue. They stress the complexity of legal, medical and moral questions raised by the proposal, and maintain that careful review is essential before any change to the law. This includes considering amendments that address concerns about vulnerable people, safeguards against coercion, and legal oversight mechanisms.
The pace of debate and the sheer number of amendments mean there is a real possibility that the bill could “run out of time” before the end of the parliamentary session, which is expected in spring 2026. If the bill has not completed all stages in the Lords by then and is not reintroduced in a subsequent session, it would automatically fall, effectively undoing the progress made in the Commons. Supporters of the legislation have pointed to extreme measures such as invoking the Parliament Act to carry the bill forward, but constitutional experts note that doing so for a private members’ bill would be unprecedented and legally complex.
Activists on both sides are intensifying their campaigns as the Lords committee continues its work. Proponents of assisted dying stress the compassion and autonomy the law would offer to people at the end of life, while opponents continue to raise ethical objections and fears about potential abuses if the protections are not sufficiently robust. The coming weeks are likely to be critical in determining whether the assisted dying bill will ultimately advance to later stages of parliamentary consideration or be stalled indefinitely.
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