The House of Lords risks being seen as an 'irrelevant talking shop' if it fails to advance the assisted dying Bill, a former Labour minister has warned. Lord Falconer of Thoroton, who is sponsoring the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the upper chamber, criticised peers for moving at a 'glacial pace' as deliberations continued on Friday.
Peers have spent more than 80 hours scrutinising the contentious legislation since it was passed by the Commons in June last year. With 1,253 amendments tabled, of which only 354 have been debated, Lord Falconer warned that at the current rate, the committee stage would require another 22 days. He urged the House to agree informally to complete the stage by the end of the next day, warning that otherwise 'we will reach no conclusions whatsoever'.
Opponents of the Bill have been accused of trying to 'talk out' the legislation, but many peers insist they are fulfilling their duty to scrutinise a Bill that is not safe in its current form. Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, a professor of palliative medicine, rejected claims of filibustering, describing 'vicious' comments made about her in the media and via email. Tory former cabinet minister Lord Harper also defended the pace, noting that the average speech length was under five minutes.
Labour peer Luciana Berger said it was 'unfortunate that those supporting this Bill are so dismissive of these serious problems', adding that 99% of amendments debated so far had been dismissed by the Bill sponsor. The draft legislation will fall if it does not complete all parliamentary stages before the end of the current session in May. Lord Falconer vowed to invoke the Parliament Act, a rare procedure to override peers, if necessary, though only seven Bills have passed using this mechanism since the law was enacted.
