Update on Assisted dying bill: ‘no hope’ of passing unless Lords change approach, warns peer

From a report by Harry Farley, Political correspondent and Henry Zeffman, Chief Political Correspondent. BBC News  Published 
28 January 2026


A leading backer of ‘ assisted dying’, Lord Falconer, the former justice secretary is reported as saying that it is now “very, very difficult” to see how the assisted dying bill could become law this year. Lord Falconer said the legislation - which has been backed by MPs - has “absolutely no hope” of passing without a “fundamental change” in the House of Lords' approach.

The former justice secretary is threatening an unprecedented use of the Parliament Act to override peers' objections if it is not passed before the King’s Speech in May. The rarely used powers would set up a clash over what is a highly sensitive issue.

Points made in the BBC report include:

The Terminally Ill Adults Bill passed in the House of Commons with a backing of 314 votes to 291 last summer

Assisted dying was not in Labour’s election manifesto and is not a government-led bill. It was introduced into Parliament by backbench Labour MP Kim Leadbeater.

A government source said many ministers now believed the bill would not pass through the Lords and hoped a compromise could be brokered.

Typically bills brought by backbench MPs, called Private Members' Bills, fall unless they are passed by both the Commons and the Lords in one parliamentary session.

Peers in the House of Lords have tabled a huge number of amendments to the bill covering subjects including               

Explicitly removing pregnant women from eligibility for an assisted death


Restricting assisted deaths to cases where a person’s suffering cannot be relieved by treatment


Changes to how a person’s capacity to request an assisted death is assessed


Requiring background checks on close relatives of those requesting an assisted death


Lifting the minimum age to 25

See full report here