The British government will not grant additional debate time to the controversial assisted suicide bill in the House of Lords, making its collapse before May almost certain.
According to Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates, the government chief whip in the Lords, Lord Kennedy of Southwark, has told a Labour parliamentary committee that no extra sitting days will be allocated to the Private Members’ Bill. Under current rules, it can only be debated on Fridays, and just six remain before the King’s Speech marks the end of the parliamentary session.
If the legislation does not pass before then, it will fall and would have to begin the entire legislative process again in the next session.
Coates described the decision as a “massive moment,” adding that the government’s refusal to provide further time amounts, in effect, to stepping back from helping the bill through the upper chamber.
The proposal previously cleared the House of Commons, but has faced sustained opposition in the Lords.
Dame Esther Rantzen, a leading campaigner for legalisation, criticised peers and “religious people” for “blocking and sabotaging” the bill.
