In a significant win for opponents of the assisted suicide Bill, following the second day of Second Reading of the Bill in the House of Lords, Peers have approved the establishment of a dedicated select committee to further scrutinise the Bill’s proposals, with the commencement of the Bill’s formal Committee Stage being delayed until the select committee has reported.
Last week, Baroness Berger tabled an amendment that delayed the commencement of the Bill’s Committee Stage until a select committee had reported. This was branded by supporters of the Bill as a “wrecking amendment” and dismissed by Lord Falconer as not “workable”.
However, on Wednesday of this week, in a significant U-turn, Lord Falconer made a major concession, agreeing that he would now back a new amendment tabled by Baroness Berger that would, in fact, still delay the commencement of the Bill’s Committee Stage until a select committee had reported.
This has been called a “significant win” for opponents of the Bill by Politico Playbook. Commentators have said this clearly showed that Falconer and supporters did not have the numbers to vote down the amendment, and so conceded.
This followed another strong majority of Peers speaking against the Bill on day two of Second Reading.
An analysis of the speeches across both days one and two of Second Reading, completed by Right To Life UK’s Policy Team, found that of the 155 peers who took a position on the Bill, 104 (67%) spoke in opposition and 51 (33%) spoke in favour. This represents more than double the number of Peers speaking in opposition to the Bill compared to those who supported it. A further five Peers did not take a position.