MP Kim Leadbeater Condemns House of Lords for Stalling Assisted Dying Bill
Kim Leadbeater has stated that the House of Lords has effectively "signed its own death warrant" by delaying the UK assisted dying bill. She made these remarks while joining more than a dozen terminally ill and bereaved individuals in a protest outside Parliament.
Marking the second anniversary of the death at Dignitas of the late, Leadbeater, whose private member’s bill for England and Wales is at risk of running out of time, expressed that many MPs who had already voted by a majority to pass the bill were "angry and upset" by the delays, which will likely cause the bill to fall without a vote.
The protest was organised by the campaign group and coincided with a rise in the number of UK residents travelling to Switzerland for assisted deaths at Dignitas, reaching the second-highest level in two decades. In 2025, 43 people travelled to Switzerland, up from 37 the previous year, second only to 47 people in 2016, according to figures.
Leadbeater Highlights Emotional Engagement of MPs and Criticizes Lords' Actions
Regarding the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, Leadbeater said:
"MPs took this decision having entered into this debate in a really serious, considered manner. They really engaged with constituents. I had colleagues in tears in my office talking this through because it is such an emotional issue, and the House of Lords are behaving as though none of that ever happened."
Welcoming the protest, she added:
"The irony of the Lords signing its own death warrant on this really important issue is not lost on me and isn’t lost on the public, many of whom are extremely angry because there is huge public support for this change in law [on assisted dying]."
The House of Lords has only three sessions remaining to debate the bill, having addressed only half of the 1,200 amendments proposed. Opponents of legalisation express concern that it could increase pressure on vulnerable individuals to end their own lives.
Leadbeater emphasized that the bill was "extremely tightly drafted," that debate would continue, and that the bill could be reintroduced in the next parliamentary session if it runs out of time.
Labour Peer Criticizes Minority of Peers for Blocking Bill
Charlie Falconer, the Labour peer responsible for guiding the bill through the Lords, expressed his disappointment over a "minority" of peers employing "procedural shenanigans" to obstruct the bill. He stated:
"The issues should be debated and then we should vote on them, but that’s not what’s happened. It’s absolutely appalling."
Protesters Honor Loved Ones and Criticize Parliamentary Process
Protesters, including terminally ill individuals and bereaved family members, held placards in memory of their loved ones before attending Friday’s Lords session, the third to last before the king’s speech.
Among them was Catie Fenner, attending in memory of her mother, Alison, who had motor neurone disease and ended her life at Dignitas in Switzerland in 2023. Fenner said:
"I understand the need to scrutinise the bill, that is their [the Lords’] role. We absolutely support scrutiny. But we do not support sabotage, and 1,200 amendments is not scrutiny, that’s sabotage. I just feel it’s against democracy and just not the way our parliamentary process should work."
Linda Deverall, whose partner Ole Hansen, 67, was forced to travel to Belgium for an assisted death 14 years ago due to terminal stomach cancer, shared that he had considered going to Dignitas but was unable to swallow medication unassisted because of his condition. She remarked that being forced to travel meant dying earlier:
"He woke up one day and said: ‘If we don’t go now, I won’t be able to go.’ Forcing people to travel alone was ‘barbaric.’"
Jenny Carruthers, 58, who witnessed her husband die in agony from liver cancer and was later diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, expressed anger at the minority blocking the law, which she believes would make the current law safer. She stated:
"I feel it’s an extension of our treatment rather than a big change in the law. Most people would like to have the option, the comfort, the insurance package."
She added:
"What the Lords are doing will damage democracy."
