Ask your MP to oppose reviving the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill
Ask your MP to oppose reviving the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill
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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill fell at the end of the last Parliamentary session in April, but now assisted suicide campaigners have made it clear they are going to attempt to revive this dangerous Bill and force it into law by bypassing the House of Lords.
Their plan involves persuading an MP who is successful in the Private Members’ Bill Ballot, held on 21 May 2026, to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill – and then use what is known as the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and push the assisted suicide Bill into law in the next Parliamentary session.
It is very common for Private Members’ Bills to fall because of insufficient parliamentary time. Forcing through the assisted suicide Bill using the Parliament Acts would set a concerning precedent that future Governments could bypass the House of Lords in passing legislation by encouraging MPs to take on non-manifesto commitments as Private Members’ Bills.
PROPER SCRUTINY OF THE BILL IS VITAL
Contrary to misleading claims that the House of Lords has been filibustering the Bill, Peers have provided scrutiny that was not possible in the House of Commons – you may recall that there was insufficient time at Report Stage in the Commons for dozens of important amendments to be debated.
When accusations of filibustering first arose before Christmas, Sir David Beamish, former Clerk of the Parliaments, confirmed the legitimacy of scrutiny that had taken place so far, telling the Hansard Society podcast, “so far we haven’t seen anything look like filibustering”. Scrutiny has been similarly appropriate since.
EXTENSIVE OPPOSITION TO THE BILL
Assisted suicide campaigners also falsely claimed that the Bill was being blocked in the Lords by a small number of Peers. This is simply untrue. 143 Peers either spoke against the assisted suicide Bill in the House of Lords, signed amendments or otherwise indicated concern with the Bill, highlighting the extent to which the legislation was flawed.
This number includes Peers appointed to the House of Lords because of their expertise in relevant areas, including a former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the former Chief Executive of NHS England, a leading Professor of palliative medicine, Peers living with disabilities, and legal experts, including a former Attorney General.
BYPASSING THE HOUSE OF LORDS IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE PUBLIC
Taking the unprecedented route of using the Parliament Acts to bypass House of Lords’ scrutiny of a Private Members’ Bill would be politically explosive. It would be the first time ever that the Parliament Acts would be used for a Private Members’ Bill – and polling confirms that taking this approach is not supported by the public.
A poll from More In Common shows that the majority of the public does not support bypassing the House of Lords to force through the assisted suicide Bill.
Despite the polling including leading questions in favour of the Bill, 54% of the public polled thought the Bill should either not return or would have to pass both Houses again – whereas only 46% of those polled thought the Bill should bypass the House of Lords.
The polling showed that majorities do not support the bypassing of the House of Lords among both men and women, and among voters of every major political party.
The results of this poll follow earlier polling, which showed that 70% of the public who expressed a view believe Peers should be able to vote against a Private Members’ Bill, like the assisted suicide Bill, if they believe it would harm vulnerable people.
TAKE ACTION
Despite this unprecedented move not being supported by the public, assisted suicide pressure group, Dignity in Dying, is currently flooding MPs’ inboxes with emails from supporters asking their MPs to support the use of the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the assisted suicide Bill into law in the next Parliamentary session.
It’s vital that it is clear to MPs that their constituents do not support this profoundly inappropriate attempt to force assisted suicide into law.
Enter your postcode above to use our EasyAction tool to write to your MP and ask them to oppose attempts to force the assisted suicide Bill into law by using the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords.
