Public pressure mounts as 100,000 call for Government to act on assisted dying
The petition, launched by terminally ill campaigner Sophie Blake and Dignity in Dying last month, calls on the Government to ensure that legislation supported by elected MPs and the public is given the time needed to complete all stages in Parliament.
It comes amid growing recognition from parliamentarians, experts and the media that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which commands overwhelming support and has twice been backed by cross-party MPs, is being deliberately obstructed by a handful of opposed members of the House of Lords. 150 MPs have today also urged the Prime Minister to act to ensure Parliament is allowed to come to a final decision on the Bill, if not in this parliamentary session then the next.
Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:
“100,000 people signing this petition is a powerful warning to Westminster: the public will not accept dying people being ignored while a handful of unelected peers talk this Bill out.
“MPs have voted for change. The public overwhelmingly supports it. Yet a tiny minority in the Lords are trying to hold the Bill hostage.The progress this campaign has made in the UK is proof of the humble tenacity of dying people and their families, who will not give up until change is achieved, with legions of the public standing shoulder to shoulder with them.
“The Government may be neutral on assisted dying, but it cannot be neutral on democracy. The Prime Minister must ensure MPs are given time next session to finish what they started – because dying people simply do not have time to waste.”
Just 1% of Peers have taken up a third of all speaking time, and put their names to 70% of amendments to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in Committee stage. After 11 days of debate, just half of the more than 1,200 amendments have been debated, with only three days available to the Bill before the end of the parliamentary session. If it is not able to complete all its stages by then, the Bill will automatically fall.
150 MPs, including 100 Labour MPs, who supported the Bill have also written to the Prime Minister urging him to ensure time is found next parliamentary session so the elected House of Commons can reach a final verdict. Meanwhile, assisted dying reform is advancing across the UK and Crown Dependencies, with a final vote on Scotland’s own Bill is expected in Holyrood tomorrow (Tuesday 17 March 2026), Jersey and the Isle of Man having passed their own legislation, and the Senedd voting to ensure equal access to Westminster’s Bill in Wales.
The petition is being carried by Sophie Blake (53), who is living with incurable secondary breast cancer, in memory of her friend Nat Dye, a passionate assisted dying campaigner who died from bowel cancer just days before he could launch it himself, as he’d planned.
Sophie Blake said:
“Before Nat died, I promised him I would keep fighting. He believed fiercely that people should be heard right to the end of their lives, and I won’t let his voice disappear now he’s gone.
“I’m living with incurable cancer and I know how precious time becomes when you’re facing the end of life. Watching Parliament waste that time because of the actions of a tiny number of unelected politicians is heartbreaking.
“This petition is for Nat, for me, and for every family who has watched someone they love suffer. MPs have already spoken. The public are speaking now too. All we are asking is that Parliament be allowed to finish the job and let the elected House make the final decision.”
ENDS
*For more information please contact Georgina O’Reilly, Media & Campaigns Manager, georgina.oreilly@dignityindying.org.uk or 07768438258*