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Press comment – Assisted suicide Bill now likely to be defeated in House of Lords

Press comment - Assisted suicide Bill now likely to be defeated in House of Lords

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press comment – Assisted suicide Bill now likely to be defeated in House of Lords

20 June 2025 – In a remarkable reversal of fortune, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill has passed by a significantly reduced margin of just 23 votes this afternoon (314 to 291), despite having passed its Second Reading with a 55-vote majority.

Given that the Bill has lost so much support, campaigners remain confident that it will be overturned in the House of Lords. This demonstrates that the more this flawed Bill is assessed and analysed, the more support drains away. There is every reason to believe that this process will continue as it passes through the House of Lords.

Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for the charity Right To Life UK, which campaigns against assisted suicide and in support of better access to palliative care, said:

“This marks a remarkable reversal in fortunes for the Bill, which has gone from passing its Second Reading in November last year by a 55-vote majority, to only passing Third Reading by 23 votes”.

“Although the Bill passed the Commons today, momentum remains with its opponents, with support consistently falling every time MPs have considered it. The Bill leaves the Commons lacking a majority, with fewer than half of all MPs voting for it at its final stage”.

“We will be fighting this Bill at every stage in the House of Lords, where we are confident it can be overturned given its continued loss of support.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people from around the country, from a wide range of backgrounds and with differing views, have come together on this one issue. We will be working together to ensure this Bill, which would have a profoundly negative impact on vulnerable people in our society, never becomes law.”

“The most vulnerable in our society deserve our unwavering protection and the highest standard of care, not a pathway to assisted suicide. Evidence from overseas shows that, if this legislation becomes law, countless vulnerable people nearing the end of life would be pressured or coerced into ending their lives”.

“With our NHS described by the Health Secretary as ‘broken’, and 100,000 people still dying each year without the palliative care they need, this assisted suicide legislation is a disaster waiting to happen”.

ENDS