People attend a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament days ahead of the assisted dying bill, in London, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. KIN CHEUNG / AP
A bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales failed in parliament on Friday, April 24, after getting bogged down in Britain's unelected upper house, as campaigners vowed to fight on. Charlie Falconer, who sponsored the legislation in the House of Lords, accused opponents of "pure obstructionism" after the bill simply ran out of time.
MPs in the House of Commons had backed legalizing euthanasia for adults who have been given less than six months to live and can clearly express a wish to die, in a historic vote last June. But more than 1,200 bill amendments subsequently introduced in the second chamber meant that after the end of Friday's debate there was no chance it would pass before parliament concludes its current session next week.
"It was an absolute travesty of our processes which a few Lords manipulated by putting down 1,200 amendments... and then talking and talking and talking," Falconer said minutes after the bill failed. "The problem was pure obstructionism by a small number," he insisted. Kim Leadbeater, the MP who introduced the bill in the House of Commons in 2024, added she believed there was a "real sense of injustice... that what's happened is wrong."
