What is happening to the assisted dying bill in the House of Lords?

"Peers are at the committee stage, which is a line-by-line review where amendments they put down are debated and voted on. In the Commons, the speaker selects amendments for debate and vote. That is not the case in the Lords, where the committee stage requires members to debate each amendment group by group, so it can take a long time over limited sitting days."

"In practice, the biggest risk to any bill in the Lords is simply delaying its passage rather than voting it down there is no fixed end date for bills at committee stage. For government bills, the government will normally make time, but that is less likely for private members' bills. To obstruct a bill, peers can make it impossible to finish before the parliamentary session ends. Peers have submitted an extraordinary number of amendments, more than 1,100."

The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults with less than six months to live in England and Wales. The bill passed the Commons and is now at committee stage in the House of Lords, where peers conduct line-by-line reviews and debate each amendment group by group. The Lords' procedure and limited sitting days allow opponents to delay progress and potentially prevent final votes. Private members' bills are less likely to receive government time, making delay an effective obstruction. More than 1,100 amendments have been submitted, ranging from substantive scrutiny to alleged time-wasting.

Read at www.theguardian.com