Why has the assisted dying bill failed?

Why has the assisted dying bill failed?1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleBecky MortonPolitical reporterPA MediaProposed legislation to introduce assisted dying in England and Wales is set to run out of time to become law when a final debate ends in the House of Lords on Friday.In its current form, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow people over the age of 18, who are expected to die within six months, to be given help to end their own life, subject to certain safeguards.A separate bill that would have legalised assisted dying in Scotland was rejected by the Scottish Parliament in March.So how did we get here, and what might happen next?What's happened so farThe bill was introduced to Parliament by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater back in October 2024.It is known as a private member's bill because it was put forward by a backbench MP rather than the government.MPs spent many days debating the draft legislation in the House of Commons and first voted in favour of the principle of the bill in November last year, by a majority of 55.A smaller committee of MPs from both sides of the debate then spent months considering more than 500 proposed changes.Further debate and votes on amendments followed in the Commons before MPs voted by a majority of 23 in June for the bill to progress to the House of Lords.Since then, peers have been carrying out line-by-line scrutiny of the legislation and proposing their own changes.ReutersKim Leadbeater is the MP behind the billWhy has the bill not become law?The bill can only become law if both Houses of Parliament agree on its final wording. This must happen before the current session of Parliament ends, which is expected to be next week.Members of the House of Lords proposed more than 1,200 changes to the bill - known as amendments - which experts believe is a record number for a bill proposed by a backbench MP.Supporters of assisted dying have criticised the number of amendments, as well as the slow pr...