Assisted dying bill passes second reading in Lords, as support and opposition seem equally divided

The Assisted Dying Bill was given a second reading in the House of Lords on 18 July and will go on to its committee stage, after peers who oppose it accepted that it should be scrutinised further.

Among more than 120 peers who spoke in the marathon second reading debate, opposition and support for the bill were split roughly 50:50.

The bill’s sponsor, the former Labour lord chancellor Charles Falconer, feared that peers who are against it would put down a wrecking amendment to derail it. But no one did, and it could complete its remaining stages in the Lords by the end of the year, although attempts to wreck it could still come at committee or …