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Coffee House Shots
Why did the assisted dying bill fail? | Lord Moore vs Lord Falconer
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The assisted dying bill has stalled in the House of Lords – but is it dead, or merely delayed?
After weeks of fraught debate, multiple amendments and accusations of filibuster, supporters of the bill are considering whether it could return to the Commons – and whether the Parliament Act might ultimately be used to force it through. Lord Falconer, who has long championed assisted dying, argues that a small group of peers used procedure to block the will of the elected House. Lord Moore disagrees, warning that the bill was deeply flawed, that the Lords was simply doing its job of scrutiny, and that using the Parliament Act on a matter of conscience would be ‘horrendously divisive’.
In this special Coffee House Shots conversation, Charles Moore and Charlie Falconer debate where the bill went wrong, whether the Lords overreached, and whether assisted dying can ever be safely introduced into the NHS.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
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