Peers oppose changes that would ‘water down’ assisted suicide safeguards

Peers warned against “watering down” safeguards in continued scrutiny of the assisted suicide Bill for England and Wales.

Amongst other issues, Peers debated a number of amendments proposed by Lord Falconer, who is the lead supporter of the Bill in the Lords. He termed these simply ‘drafting changes’, but critics highlighted that many were, in fact, substantive policy changes and removed some key protections passed by the House of Commons.

While the Government has said it is neutral on the Bill, documents leaked this week revealed that the Labour Party considered using its influence to legalise assisted suicide via a Private Member’s Bill, rather than as Government policy.

Weakening safeguards

One of Lord Falconer’s amendments would have watered down Jess Asato MP’s safeguard, which required that training in domestic abuse must include coercive control and financial abuse.

He also put forward a proposal which would have weakened Jack Abbott MP’s Committee amendment that doctors “must first ensure the provision of adjustments for language and literacy barriers”. Lord Falconer’s amendment would only require doctors to take “all reasonable steps to ensure that there is effective communication”.

This prompted Baroness Coffey to query why amendments which were agreed in the House of Commons are now being removed.

Another amendment from Lord Falconer would have widened the scope for doctor referrals. It raised the prospect of a patient being referred to another doctor because the first did not want to take further part in the process due to “suspicions” of coercion. Peers warned this would open the door to “doctor shopping”.

Following pressure from Peers, he withdrew all of his amendments.

Raise age to 25

Peers also debated Baroness Berger’s amendment to raise the age a person can get an assisted suicide from 18 to 25, on the basis that existing protections for vulnerable young adults are often extended to 25 such as those with Education, Health and Care Plans.

The Baroness called the current limit of 18 “arbitrary” and stated: “There is no reason, either in law or principle why we should assume 18 is the right age for eligibility for an assisted death”.

The Association of British Paediatric Nurses have previously said: “For young people who feel like a burden to their families or carers, the perceived pressure to seek assisted dying could be significant. The gap between capacity and true autonomy is wider for young people than for older adults.”

The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel De Souza, supported the amendment, and was quoted in the debate saying: “I am calling upon the Govt to support the amendment by Baroness Berger to extend the minimum age as drafted in the Bill from 18 to 25. Not to do so fails to recognise the protection we grant children who face complexity and adversity until age 25.”

Lord Weir speaks in support of Baroness Berger’s amendment to raise the minimum age for an assisted suicide from 18 to 25. pic.twitter.com/h8bUqocLQ2

— The Christian Institute (@christianorguk) December 5, 2025

Immigration complexities

Lord Harper raised concerns that doctors could currently be held legally responsible for determining a patient’s immigration status under the Bill.

He pointed to written evidence presented to the House of Commons by the Medical Defence Union (MDU) which said: “The MDU queries how the coordinating doctor would be able to establish whether a person is ‘ordinarily resident in England and Wales and has been for 12 months’.”

In a further criticism of the Bill’s vagueness around ‘ordinary residence’, Lord Mackinlay of Richborough added: “Having listened to a wide range of debate from people that have infinitely more experience in the law than I do, we are still all at sea as to what this actually means”.

The Peers debated 52 amendments today, leaving around a thousand still to be considered across the eleven days still designated for the debate.