UK MP Lauren Edwards to Reintroduce Assisted Dying Bill after Lords Filibuster

Lauren Edwards, a Member of Parliament who placed second in the Private Members’ Bill ballot, announced she will bring back the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill after it was halted in the House of Lords. The Bill failed last session when peers proposed nearly 1,300 amendments and it did not complete all parliamentary stages. Under the Parliament Act, if the same legislation is approved twice by the elected Commons it can become law without further Lords’ consent. Humanists UK and the campaign group My Death, My Decision welcomed the move, urging MPs to support the proposal. Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK, said: “We congratulate Lauren Edwards MP on bringing back the Assisted Dying Bill… we cannot let a small group of unelected peers dictate the choices all of us have at the end of our lives.” Graham Winyard of My Death, My Decision added: “Parliament now has a chance to correct a democratic wrong… terminally ill people continue to suffer behind closed doors.”