What’s happening with the assisted dying bill?

More than a year ago, MPs first gave their backing to a bill that would introduce assisted dying in England and Wales, in a historic vote in the House of Commons.

In its current form, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow people over the age of 18, who are expected to die within six months, to be helped to end their own life, subject to certain safeguards.

But the legislation continues to generate enormous controversy, with passionate arguments for and against.

The House of Lords is in the fourth of 14 days allotted for detailed scrutiny of the bill and it is still far from becoming law.

So what is causing the delay? And is there a chance it will never come into force?

The bill can only become law if both Houses of Parliament agree on its final wording.

This must happen before next spring, when the current session of Parliament is expected to end.

Members of the House of Lords have proposed more than 1,000 changes to the bill, known as amendments, which experts believe is a record number for a bill proposed by a backbencher.

Supporters of assisted dying have expressed concern that the number of amendments, as well as the slow progress in their debate, is a delaying tactic by opponents aimed at preventing the bill from becoming law.

They argue that it would be undemocratic for unelected peers to thwart a bill that has already been approved by elected parliamentarians.

Leadbeater, the MP behind the bill, told the BBC she welcomed the Lords’ scrutiny, but said many of these amendments were unnecessary and even “cruel”.

He pointed to examples such as the proposal that someone seeking an assisted death should not have left the country in the last 12 months and that any assisted death should be filmed.

Opponents insist they are not obstructing the bill, but say significant changes are needed to make it safe and ensure vulnerable people are protected.

Independent peer and former Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson told the BBC that the bill was “poorly drafted” and had significant loopholes, and that many of the amendments were aimed at preventing coercion.

He noted that MPs had also tabled a large number of amendments and that their peers were simply doing their job examining the legislation.

Despite the extra days allocated, there is still a real risk that the bill will run out of time to become law.

There is a possibility that even more time could be granted, but if the bill is not approved by both Houses by the end of the current session of Parliament in the spring, it will fall.

Unlike government bills, those introduced by backbench MPs cannot be carried over to the next session.

This means that any bill to introduce assisted dying would have to start the parliamentary process from scratch.

Some pro-assisted dying MPs have suggested using the Parliament Act – a little-used piece of legislation that is invoked when MPs and their peers cannot reach an agreement – ​​as a potential option to allow the bill to pass without Lords agreement.

However, experts say this would be unprecedented for a private member’s bill and would be challenging to implement.

The Parliament Act was last used in 2004 to push through a ban on fox hunting.

By convention, the House of Lords does not prevent bills included in a government’s election manifesto from becoming law, but this would not apply in this case.

Given that MPs have already backed the bill, it would still be controversial for unelected peers to obstruct its passage, but not impossible.