British lawmakers are expected to revisit assisted dying legislation for terminally ill people in the new parliamentary session after a Labour Party lawmaker said she plans to reintroduce a bill that stalled earlier this year.
Public opinion in Britain has consistently shown strong support for assisted dying, with polls indicating about 80% of respondents in favor. The country had been moving toward joining nations such as Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as several U.S. states, in legalizing the practice before the legislation ran into obstacles in the upper chamber of Parliament.
Reuters reported that Labour MP Lauren Edwards said she would bring back the same legislation as a private member’s bill in the House of Commons.
Writing on her website on Sunday, Edwards said she felt a duty to terminally ill people and their families to reintroduce a bill that would give them greater choice at the end of life.
In 2025, members of the House of Commons voted 314-291 in favor of changing the law. However, the legislation failed to complete its passage through the House of Lords in March after time ran out amid extensive debate over hundreds of proposed amendments.
“We cannot allow an unelected minority to frustrate the democratic process for a second time,” Edwards said, arguing that the outcome undermined public trust by blocking reforms supported by a parliamentary majority and backed by voters.
Under the proposed law, mentally competent adults in England and Wales who are terminally ill with six months or less to live would be eligible to request medical assistance to end their lives, subject to approval by a panel of medical professionals.
Some members of the House of Lords raised concerns about safeguarding vulnerable patients from coercion, contributing to the large number of amendments that delayed progress of the bill.
Edwards said the proposed legislation represented “the safest and most robust” assisted dying framework in the world.
