Exclusive: Legislation thought unlikely even to be put to vote before timing out after delay tactics by opponents
UK politics live – latest updates
MPs and peers who backed the assisted dying bill now believe it is “near impossible” for it to pass the House of Lords in time because of procedural obstacles used by opponents.
Supporters of the bill, including its sponsor, Kim Leadbeater, have been in intense discussions with the government to find ways to move it to a vote in the Lords. With progress so slow, experts and MPs believe it is unlikely the legislation will even be put to a vote before the end of the session in May, after which it will automatically fall.
MPs told the Guardian they were in “blind fury” about the apparent inevitability of the billing falling in the Lords despite passing the Commons. “It is our system at its absolute most dysfunctional,” one MP said.
