Supporters of assisted dying are preparing to invoke the 1911 Parliament Act – described as the “nuclear option” – to force through their bill if it continues to be blocked by the House of Lords. This would be the first time the archaic procedure has been used for a private member’s bill.
The move, confirmed by the bill’s lead proponents MP Kim Leadbeater and Lord Charles Falconer, follows extensive legal advice that they can compel peers to vote on the unamended bill in the next parliamentary session. Falconer warned that opponents who think the issue will “just go away” if it is talked out in the Lords are wrong, insisting that parliamentary action will continue until it is resolved.
Falconer expressed hope for a change of approach in the Lords to allow a vote, but acknowledged that as a self-regulating chamber, there is no mechanism to prevent a small minority of peers from frustrating the will of the majority. The Parliament Act allows the Commons to reintroduce a bill if the Lords repeatedly block it and has been used sparingly since 1949, for laws including decriminalising homosexuality and banning foxhunting.
To trigger the act, the bill must be reintroduced and passed again in the next session, either through a supporter winning a private member’s bill ballot or the government allocating time. No 10 giving time would likely provoke outcry from cabinet opponents Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood. MPs are expected to pressure party leaders, including Keir Starmer, warning that failing to act would cause a public backlash and make the government appear impotent against unelected peers.
Opponents of the bill argue the delay is proper scrutiny of a flawed measure, not a filibuster. Peers are set to begin their tenth day of debate on Friday, with hundreds of amendments still to consider out of over 1,200. According to the Hansard Society, the bill needs at least 16 more sitting days to complete committee stage but has less than half that time available before the session ends in May.
