The House of Lords agreed to give more time to consider the Assisted Dying legislation after being warned they were damaging their reputation and could make the bill fail.
The House of Lords has agreed to give the Assisted Dying legislation ‘more time’ after they were accused of trying to ‘amend it out of oblivion’.
Concern has been growing among supporters of the bill that it won’t pass all its parliamentary hurdles in the allotted days. A motion in the Lords asked peers to agree that “further time should be provided for consideration of the bill”. After an hour long debate this was passed unanimously.
A group of just eight unelected Peers have tabled two-thirds of the 1,100 amendments causing the delay. Dignity in dying claims there’s even been talk of a “sweepstake” between opponents over how little progress can be made. And it is also claimed an email has also been circulated asking for ideas for more amendments.
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The Lords on Thursday were warned their reputation was being damaged by the ‘time wasting’ witnessed by the public. MPs in the Commons have twice voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. But since June 2025, it has struggled to make progress in the Lords, where supporters worry it will run out of time.
Campaigners have blasted the House of Lords for their attempts to delay the bill. “This is pure filibustering and is vicious and undemocratic. The fact should be shouted out loud,” Louise Shackleton, whose husband, who had Motor Neurone Disease, died at Dignitas in December 2024, told The Mirror.
Lord Falconer, the Labour Peer, who is steering the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through the House of Lords, warned if the bill has not completed its stage in the House of Lords by the end of the parliamentary session – expected in May – it will ‘fall’. His motion, which they agreed, was to ‘allow further time’ for consideration of the Bill to make sure it returns to the Commons in ‘reasonable time before the end of the current parliamentary session.”
He told the Lords the assisted dying bill commands strong views for and against and “huge public interest”. He said: “My Lords, over 1,000 amendments at committee stage have been tabled, arranged into around 84 groups.
“So far, we have spent around, in total, 32 hours in this House in scrutinising the Bill. We have another 50-hours scheduled. However, in four days of committee, that is about 17 hours, we’ve only considered 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…instead the bill will fail through lack of time.”
He said this despite the fact it came to the House in June last year after “extensive scrutiny of the Commons”. Baroness Butler Closs, backed his call for extra time and also warned them: “The reputation of this house is at stake”. Her comments prompted some Peers to change their minds and support the motion.”
Baroness Jay of Paddington said she was “sad” the House of Lords had been “heavily criticised” because of the “time wasting”. She said she hoped they sent the bill back to the Commons in time for the bill to be considered there. But disabled peer Lord Kevin Shinkwin, said the bill is ‘poorly drafted’ and “unsafe”. He argued the Lords had already been “generous” with its time.
“The volume of amendments and the time taken to consider them, therefore, reflect the quality and the role of the Bill that was sent to us…We are simply doing our job without fear or favour as Parliament’s Revising Chamber…I quote, You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”
But Louise Shackleton, from North Yorkshire, said: “When my husband and I had to travel to Dignitas, it was because Parliament had not yet given families like ours a compassionate, safe option at home. The lords need to realise the Terminally ill Adults Bill is about life not a person’s method of death, these people are on the road to death no matter what.
“The Bill will allow people to live what is left of their without terror or anxiety regarding what their death will look like for them and their loved ones. I’m relieved that the House of Lords agrees it should have more time to scrutinise the assisted dying bill and allow Parliament to reach a final decision.
“It is so reassuring to know that when it comes down to it, Peers know they have an obligation not to let this Bill get bogged down in procedural delay. They understand they have a responsibility to MPs, to the people of this country, and to dying people, like my late husband, to ensure fair and proper debate.
“It has been agony watching the progress so far in the Lords. It is alleged that certain people have been made aware of conversations between opponents who are taking bets with each other on who can stall amendments the most amendments due to be talked about on that day. Is this the behaviour of our second chamber? I hope that today’s decision will put a hard stop to this behaviour and will remind those involved that, while we all welcome robust scrutiny, the fact that this law must pass has already been decided by the public and their elected representatives.
“I was under investigation for almost a year after I accompanied my husband, who was dying of motor neurone disease, to end his life at Dignitas. It was the hardest of my life. No one else should have to go through what I’ve been through, and the people who need this choice most don’t have the time to wait. Peers must do the right thing, use debate time wisely, and ultimately pass a Bill that we can all be proud of.”
