MPs are voting on the Second Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday, after the assisted dying legislation was reintroduced to the Commons by Labour MP Lauren Edwards following its collapse in the House of Lords earlier this year. The Bill previously passed two Commons votes but ran out of parliamentary time in the Lords amid accusations that opponents had filibustered the debate before the last session ended in April. Friday's vote, expected around 2.30pm, is considered a knife-edge moment, with undecided MPs facing pressure from both supporters and opponents, and reports suggesting backers could ultimately invoke the Parliament Acts to force the Bill through the Lords.

The Bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to seek an assisted death, though a four-year implementation period means it would not take effect until 2031 at the earliest. Edwards argued MPs must decide "who ultimately decides the laws that govern our nations" after the unelected Lords blocked the previous version, while critics, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and former minister Dame Karen Bradley, called the near-identical Bill "rushed" and "badly drafted," urging MPs not to feel bound by their earlier votes if they now judge it unsafe.