Overview
- Lauren Edwards has reintroduced the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and completed its initial Commons procedural stage on Wednesday, with a substantive second reading expected in September.
- The bill is identical to last year’s measure and would let adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live request assisted dying after approval from doctors and legal safeguards.
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters that the government will take a neutral position on the bill even though he previously voted in favour of similar legislation.
- The previous bill passed the Commons but stalled in the House of Lords after peers tabled hundreds of amendments, and campaigners now say using the Parliament Act could prevent a repeat blockage.
- Medical bodies, disability groups and faith organisations continue to warn the bill has drafting and safeguard flaws that risk coercion or unequal access, while backers call the Lords’ earlier delay an affront to the Commons and public opinion.