Westminster Assisted Suicide Bill now highly likely to fall

The Assisted Suicide Bill at Westminster is now highly likely to fall due after the government refused to give it any more parliamentary time.

Today, CARE welcomed the news and urged parliament to focus on improving the availability of palliative care across the country.

It was after the last General Election in 2024 that Kim Leadbeater MP brought forward her Terminally Ill (End of Life) Adults private members' bill.

If successful, it would have legalised assisted suicide across England and Wales for any adult with a prognosis of six months of less to live, providing a range of other, somewhat vague criteria were also met.

At Second Reading in the House of Commons in November 2024, the Bill passed by 330-275. But when the law came up for a Third Reading in the Commons, the majority in favour of the Bill had been slashed to just 23.

House of Lords scrutiny began last year and it was clear almost immediately that Peers were concerned both about the prinicple of the Bill but also the manifest failures in its drafting.

As a result, a special committee was even set up to take additional evidence and more than 1,000 amendments were tabled. The scale of this, whilst not unprecedented, clearly demonstrated how irredeemably flawed the Bill really is.

By convention, private members' bills are debated on sitting Friday's. There was, therefore, always the possibility that this Bill would run out of time, as is the case with any private members bill. This week's development is crucial because the government is refusing to bow to pressure to grant further days for debate.

Given how many groups of amendments still need to be considered - and the Bill sponsor, Lord Falconer, has felt compelled to table plenty of amendments himself - and because parliament will be prorogued in April ahead of a King's Speech in May, there is just not enough time for the Bill to go through its remaining stages.

CARE's James Mildred told Premier Christian News:

“This is good news for the most vulnerable across England and Wales because no assisted suicide law can ever be made fully safe from abuse, coercion or exploitation. This is not filibustering. It is the House of Lords performing its duty.”

There are now calls for a new, national conversation to improve access to palliative care across England and Wales.