My Death, My Decision has said Monday’s Commons debate underlined the strength of public feeling over the way the Assisted Dying Bill was blocked from becoming law, despite having passed the House of Commons. 
The debate was triggered after more than 114,000 people signed a petition calling for Bills, backed by MPs and the public, to be allowed to complete their passage through Parliament. My Death, My Decision said that level of support shows people understand exactly what happened to the Bill and do not accept it as a legitimate outcome.
During the debate
MPs from across the Commons used Monday’s debate to express their frustration with what had happened.
Andrew George MP, who has been drawn in the Private Members’ Bill ballot, said:
“I have seen people on both sides of the debate were disgusted with the way a small minority of their Lordships were able to abuse powers available to them, not to scrutinise, but to block the bill.”
Lizzie Collinge MP said the Bill:
“was prevented from completing its parliamentary journey by a small number of unelected peers who, in my opinion, showed through their own actions that they had no respect for the constitutional settlement of this country, no respect for the House of Commons, no respect for their own role as scrutineers and no respect for the British public.”
She also spoke about the reality of the current law, saying:
“Where does that leave us? It leaves us in a dangerous status quo where terminally ill adults, with the means to do so, go abroad to die, often too early. It leaves us with a legal situation where the manner of someone’s death and the intention of the people who are with them are determined after someone is dead and can not make their views known. It leaves hundreds of terminally ill adults taking their life every year, often in very upsetting circumstances.”
Dr Simon Opher MP, who has clinical experience and served on the Bill’s Commons Committee, said:
“I would take issue with the fact that this is not a good piece of legislation. I have worked in palliative care for many, many years. This is an excellent piece of legislation. Saying it is weak is simply a tactic because you don’t agree with assisted dying.”
At the end of the debate, Leader of the House Sir Alan Campbell also confirmed that there is a route for the Terminally Ill Adults Bill to be brought back in the Commons, stating that the Parliament Act “applies to all public bills – that includes Private Members Bills.”
What happened in the Lords?
More than 75 hours were spent debating the Bill in the House of Lords, in addition to more than 100 hours in the House of Commons. The Lords transcript ran to 607,077 words, longer than War and Peace. Nearly 1,300 amendments were tabled in the Lords, yet only three minor changes were made.
Campaigners said the Bill deserved proper scrutiny, and they supported that. What followed was something different: scrutiny used as a weapon by a handful of unelected peers to stop the Bill reaching a fair conclusion.
Examples of amendments included a proposed pregnancy test requirement for all applicants, including men, a one-year holiday ban for applicants, and an unworkable requirement for half a dozen GP visits.
Why this matters now
The Government’s own response to the petition states that the primacy of the House of Commons is an established constitutional principle reflected in the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949. Hansard Society has also said the Parliament Acts can apply to Private Members’ Bills, and has published analysis of how that route could work if the same Bill returns and is approved again by the Commons.
My Death, My Decision said the Parliament Act exists for exactly these situations: where the elected House has made its view clear, and the unelected House has prevented the matter reaching a final decision. It would not remove scrutiny. It would stop scrutiny being used to kill the Bill by delay.
Terminally ill people are still waiting, and Parliament is still waiting too. No MP has yet announced they will bring the Bill back through the current Private Members’ Bill route, leaving no settled path forward at a time when public pressure is plainly growing, not fading.
What happens now?
Terminally ill people are still waiting, and Parliament is still waiting too.
No MP has yet announced they will bring the Bill back through the current Private Members’ Bill route, so there is still no settled path forward. But Monday’s debate showed that public pressure is not fading.
We are now calling for:
- MPs supportive of reform to state clearly whether they are prepared to bring the Bill back
- the Government to recognise that the Bill fell because of delay, not defeat
- Parliament to ensure that a Bill backed by the elected House cannot again be lost through procedural obstruction
Ends
Notes to editors
Members of the MDMD team, as well as individuals affected by the current law on assisted dying, are available for interviews upon request.
For further information, the media should contact Kerry Hogan at Kerry.Hogan@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk or 07922363248.
My Death, My Decision is a grassroots campaign group that wants the law in England and Wales to allow mentally competent adults who are terminally ill or intolerably suffering from an incurable condition the option of a legal, safe, and compassionate assisted death. With the support of over 3,000 members and supporters, we advocate for an evidence-based law that would balance individual choice alongside robust safeguards and finally give the people of England and Wales choice at the end of their lives.
