Former prime minister Theresa May will lead opposition to legislation to legalise assisted dying as the House of Lords begins a two-day debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Nearly 200 peers are slated to speak during the Second Reading, a number that could surpass the previous record of 187 speakers recorded for the EU Withdrawal Bill in 2018 if every scheduled contribution goes ahead. The bill would allow doctors to assist adults in England and Wales who have a terminal diagnosis and are judged to have less than six months to live to end their own lives.
Bills are normally not put to a vote at Second Reading in the Lords, but peers can call for one. If a vote were called and the bill were defeated, it would fall and parliamentary efforts to change the law would need to start anew. Supporters warn that defeat could mean another long delay before assisted dying returns to the Commons, though some MPs have said the issue need not be treated as a "now or never" moment.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has urged peers to seek more detailed information before proceeding, saying the Government's published assessments lack sufficient evidence about how the bill might affect people with protected characteristics, including age, religion or belief, race and disability. Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the EHRC, criticised the choice of a Private Member's Bill as the route for such consequential legislation, saying it has not benefited from the pre-legislative scrutiny a government-sponsored bill would have undergone.
"This is complex legislation, with serious implications for equality and human rights," the commission said in advice to peers. It called for more evidence on health inequalities between groups, potential disparities in access to assisted dying, and the challenge of accurately determining how long a person with a terminal illness will live — an issue the EHRC said requires careful consideration to ensure consistent implementation by medical professionals.
Supporters of the bill say it is among the most tightly regulated proposals internationally, requiring approval from two doctors and an expert panel before an assisted death could proceed. Campaigners and public figures, including Childline founder Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill, have appealed directly to peers not to block the legislation. Demonstrations in support of and opposed to the bill gathered outside Parliament as debate opened.
Opponents have expressed concern about potential coercion, inadequate safeguards and insufficient time for proper parliamentary scrutiny. Those concerns have been amplified by the bill's passage to the Lords as a Private Member's Bill rather than government legislation, which the EHRC said curtailed early expert input.
Lord Charlie Falconer, who is sponsoring the bill in the Lords, said the chamber's expertise would allow for rigorous examination and that there is "more than enough time" for the Lords to scrutinise the measure and return it to the Commons before the end of the parliamentary session in the spring. Falconer said he and Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the bill in the Commons, would be open to amendments designed to strengthen safeguards.
The government has taken a neutral stance on assisted dying, and MPs were given a free vote when the bill was debated in the Commons. The measure has already faced line-by-line scrutiny by a Commons committee and passed through the lower chamber, but its future now rests with the unelected peers of the House of Lords.
The outcome of the Lords' debates and any subsequent decision to call a vote could determine whether attempts to change the law on assisted dying advance this parliamentary term. If peers allow the bill to proceed without a successful challenge, further stages and potential amendments in both chambers would follow before any law change could be enacted.