𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A backer of assisted dying has warned the Bill is at risk of failing in the House of Lords if more time is not given. Labour former lord chancellor and justice secretary Lord Falconer of Thoroton tabled a motion ahead of the draft legislation returning to the upper chamber today to request “further time”.

The Bill will become law only if the House of Commons and the Lords agree on the final drafting, with approval needed before spring when the current session of Parliament ends. But more than 1,000 amendments have been tabled by peers as the clock ticks down on the controversial legislation.

Pressing for more time, Lord Falconer said: “The assisted dying Bill commands strong views, both in favour and against, and is of huge public interest in terms of not only its content, but also its progress through our Parliament, not least how we in this House conduct our scrutiny of it.”

He added: “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 or whether it should return to the Commons. Instead, the Bill will fail through lack of time.”

He went on: “We should not allow our justified reputation for high-quality scrutiny to be tarnished by the way we failed to reach conclusions on the Bill.”

The call for extra time to consider the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was backed by peers.

Following the decision, the chief whip in the Lords, Lord Kennedy of Southwark, pointed out that as the Government was neutral on the legislation he could not give any firm commitments on what would happen next.

But the Labour frontbencher said he would look to hold “urgent discussions” early next week “to seek to find a way forward to deliver on what the House has just agreed”, although he made clear it would not be in Government time.

Friday sittings to debate the Bill so far have generally begun after 10am and finished by around 3pm.

There are 10 sessions listed for the Bill in the Lords between Friday and April 24.

Supporters of assisted dying have accused some opponents in the Lords of filibustering and trying to “talk out” the proposed law.

But opponents have insisted they are simply doing their job of scrutinising a Bill, which they argue is not safe in its current form and needs to be strengthened.

Assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, who has repeatedly urged members of the Lords not to block the landmark legislation, warned last month that “scrutiny must not tip into sabotage”.

The Bill was narrowly approved at third reading by MPs in the Commons in June last year, and received an unopposed second reading in the Lords in September before proceeding to committee stage.