Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Many writers have suggested that the House of Lords cannot defeat the assisted dying bill, only amend it.
An article written by Joshua Rozenberg and published by A Lawyer Writes on September 12, 2025 explains that the House of Lords can defeat the assisted dying bill. Rozenberg explains:
Legalizing assisted suicide creates a legal situation whereby the law allows one group of people to have the right in law to kill other people. Once killing becomes acceptable the line in the sand immediately shifts and opens the door to the further expansion of killing.
It is “constitutionally appropriate” for the House of Lords to scrutinise the assisted dying bill “and, if so minded, vote to amend or reject it”, the Lords constitution committee says in a report issued ahead of today’s second reading debate.
The all-party committee reminds peers that the upper house of parliament plays an important role in the legislative process and that members should not feel constrained by the fact that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was passed by the House of Commons in June.
That’s because this is a private members’ bill, introduced in the Commons by Kim Leadbeater MP and in the Lords by Lord Falconer of Thoroton. The Salisbury-Addison convention, under which “bills foreshadowed in a government’s manifesto are given a second reading in the Lords, are not subject to wrecking amendments and are passed in reasonable time”, does not apply.
This is an important article since others have stated that the House of Lords can only suggest amendments to the bill, a message that is designed to discourage the Lords from attempting to defeat the bill.
The Leadbeater assisted dying bill cannot be made "safer" by amendments. Even with amendments to tighten the bill, soon after legalization the euthanasia movement will work to expand the legislation.
There is only one clear line in the sand, that being you cannot kill people.
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