by James MacIntyre, Church Times
Lauren Edwards MP announces she will reintroduce Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to the Commons
RESPONDING to the news that a Bill to permit assisted dying is to be reintroduced to Parliament, the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has told the Church Times that she remains committed to scrutinising the legislation in the House of Lords — although MPs may use the Parliament Act to bypass the Upper House.
“The issues around workability and safety remain, as do the issues around the funding of palliative and social care,” she said.
The Bishop was speaking after the Labour MP for Rochester and Strood, Lauren Edwards, announced that she would use another Private Member’s Bill to reintroduce the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill into the House of Commons.
Dr Hartley said: “The role of the House of Lords remains — to scrutinise and improve legislation sent to it by the House of Commons. That is the work I and other colleagues remain committed to as we await the detail of this new Bill.”
The Bishop was on the Lords select committee that examined the Private Member’s Bill brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater in October 2024 (News, 18 October 2024). She spoke against the Bill before it ran out of time in the Upper House, nearly 17 months after MPs first voted for it in principle, following an unprecedented number of suggested amendments addressing concerns over risks to vulnerable people (News, 1 May).
Powers under the Parliament Act — which have only been used seven times in the last hundred years — allow MPs to override the House of Lords if they pass an identical bill in two consecutive parliamentary sessions, meaning that peers cannot block it a second time.
Dr Hartley last week anticipated the reintroduction of the Bill, saying: “This would mean using a procedure never used for a Bill of this kind and acting against the advice of medical professionals, disability groups, and the concerns of all those who want to see legislation that is safe and workable.”