Baroness Falkner delivered an emotional appeal to the House of Lords on Friday, urging peers to reject the Assisted Dying Bill after recounting her experience of advanced ovarian cancer and treatment that she said left her “glimpsing the Grim Reaper.” Her intervention came during a lengthy, sometimes tearful first-day debate in which a large number of peers signalled opposition to the private member’s bill.
Speaking as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission but stressing that her remarks were personal, Baroness Falkner described undergoing two rounds of chemotherapy, three operations and ongoing medication that she said would continue until 2027. She warned that legalising assisted dying risked reinforcing “the dangerous notion that some lives are less worth living than others” and said the legislation could be used to conceal medical mistakes.
The debate, the first in the Lords since the House of Commons approved the legislation in June by a majority of 23, saw 91 peers speak in a six-and-a-half-hour sitting without pause. Organisers had scheduled a record 190 peers to speak across two days, and those who addressed the chamber were reported to be roughly two-thirds opposed to the Bill. Former prime minister Theresa May told peers she opposed the measure, calling it effectively a “licence to kill” and warning about the message it would send about suicide. Opponents raised concerns about impacts on disabled people, those with chronic physical and mental illnesses, and the potential for pressure on vulnerable patients.
Supporters urged peers to respect the decision of elected MPs and argued the Bill includes robust safeguards. Lord Falconer, the former Labour justice secretary who is guiding the Bill through the Lords, described it as “the most safeguarded assisted dying measure in the world” and said it responded to people’s genuine fears about how they might die. Proponents emphasised the requirement for approval by two doctors and oversight by an expert panel as protections against abuse.
Under its current terms, the Bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales who are assessed to have fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death. Applications would be subject to the agreement of two doctors and an expert panel. If the Bill clears all remaining stages this year and receives Royal Assent, ministers have suggested the first assisted deaths could take place in 2029.
The Bill returns to the Lords on Friday for a motion to agree to a second reading. If it passes that stage, the legislation must still pass committee, report and third reading stages in the upper house, then return to the Commons for consideration of any amendments before Royal Assent. As a private member’s bill, it will have limited parliamentary time; opponents have indicated they may seek to introduce numerous amendments or other delaying tactics that could prevent the measure reaching final stages. If the Bill does not complete all stages by the end of the parliamentary session next spring, it will fall and would need to be reintroduced or taken up as government business to proceed.
Peers who addressed the chamber on Friday set out a mix of legal, ethical and practical concerns. Some warned about the possibility of mistakes in diagnosis or prognosis being obscured by assisted deaths, while others argued for individual autonomy and relief from prolonged suffering. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, led by Baroness Falkner, has also called for a more detailed assessment of how proposed legislation might affect society’s most vulnerable groups.
Lord Jackson of Peterborough, speaking after the debate, said the strength of feeling made it increasingly unlikely the Bill would pass at third reading and that momentum appeared to be against it. Several peers noted that unless the government chose to adopt the measure as its own bill, supporters would face a difficult path to enactment.
The House of Lords is expected to continue considering the Bill in the coming days, with further speeches, potential amendments and votes determining whether it progresses through the remaining stages this session. Parliamentarians and campaign groups on both sides said they would press their cases in the coming weeks as the timetable for the Bill’s passage becomes clearer.