“If we had more time, then almost certainly we would have had a majority in favor of halting the bill,” said Alistair Thompson, a spokesperson for Care Not Killing, a campaign group which opposes assisted dying.
“We will get a much fuller and franker debate in the Lords without people who have genuine concerns being excluded,” Thompson argued.
“This particular bill is a very bad one,” concurred Tory peer and opponent Mark Harper. The former cabinet minister claimed some MPs “both on and off the record … recognized that the bill is not in great shape and expect the House of Lords to improve it.”
However, proponents want momentum from the Commons decision to continue — and are adamant that despite it not being in Labour’s election manifesto, peers shouldn’t override elected MPs.
Members of the Lords will initially decide “whether they are inclined to reject it outright,” explained Hansard Society Director Ruth Fox, or push to amend the bill later on.
Peers could theoretically vote the bill down at any stage, though the democratic legitimacy of this would raise eyebrows.
