A significant assisted dying bill, aimed at legalizing assisted dying for terminally ill adults with less than six months to live in England and Wales, appears set to fail in the current parliamentary session.

Despite passing the House of Commons, the legislation has encountered substantial resistance and procedural obstacles in the House of Lords, leading to accusations of filibustering and sabotage from its supporters.

The bill was proposed by backbench MP, Kim Leadbeater and garnered majority support in the House of Commons, where MPs were allowed a 'free vote' without government whipping.

However, upon reaching the House of Lords, a small faction of opponents has employed tactics including laying down a reported 1,200 amendments, effectively running out the clock on the bill's debate time before the parliamentary session concludes in May.

Labour's chief whip in the Lords, Roy Kennedy, confirmed that the government would not provide additional debate time, citing limited sitting Fridays and other legislative priorities.

Lord Charlie Falconer, who has championed the bill, expressed his dismay, criticizing the obstruction by a small number of peers and emphasizing that the bill had already passed in the Commons.

Falconer noted that elected chambers, including Jersey's states assembly and the Isle of Man parliament, had already approved similar legislation, and remained confident the Parliament Act would allow the bill to progress to the next session.

Prominent supporter Esther Rantzen echoed this frustration, accusing some peers of submitting numerous amendments not for scrutiny, but to block the bill entirely.