Cost of debating assisted dying Bill in Lords could reach £1.7m

Lord Charlie Falconer of Thoroton, who was the main proponent of the End of Life (Terminally Ill Adults) Bill, did not claim any allowances for the debates he took part in. He said it was frustrating that they did not result in the Bill being passed.

The Labour former minister said it was “disappointing that a lot of money was spent failing to reach any conclusions in the Lords”.

The Bill, which was put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater (Spen Valley), did not pass as it ran out of scheduled days to be debated before the parliamentary session ended.

However, the MP’s Labour colleague Lauren Edwards (Rochester and Strood) will bring the Bill back on September 11 as proponents hope a second attempt will get it through Parliament.

Lord Falconer will front the Bill again if it returns to the Lords.

The number of peers attending the chamber fell across the course of the debates, which began with two days of second reading in September 2025, until its final sitting at committee stage on March 24 this year.

On the first day of debate, 395 members of the House of Lords attended. This fell to 303 by the final day on March 24. The lowest figure was 269, with the average being 315 peers.

Peers can claim a tax-free amount of £371 for attending the Lords, without the need to speak in any debates or sit on the red benches of the upper chamber.

However, they can opt to claim a reduced amount of £175 or not claim any allowance at all.

An average of 3.4% of peers chose to claim the reduced rate on dates when the Bill was being discussed.

Each sitting debating assisted dying is on track to cost about £109,505 on average, based on currently available figures. A total of £1.3 million has already been paid out, according to statistics provided by the House of Lords.

Campaigners for assisted dying believe that the numbers which were enough to get it through the House of Commons last year are likely to hold up. The Press Association was told they believe there is “no slippage” in support.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told reporters last month he believed end-of-life palliative care, and wider social care, needed reform before assisted dying is brought in.

In response Ms Edwards said both could be done at the same time.

Mr Burnham’s predecessor Sir Keir Starmer had voted in favour of Ms Leadbeater’s Bill becoming law at second reading but he said changing the law was a “matter of conscience” for MPs.

Phil Friend, convenor of Not Dead Yet, a disability rights group opposed to the Bill, said: “A forecast of £1.7 million tells us something important: that peers have taken this Bill seriously enough to show up and scrutinise it properly.

“That is exactly what Parliament is for. The Bill is returning in September with some of the most fundamental questions still unresolved – around coercion, around safeguards in a health system under enormous strain, and around what ‘choice’ actually means for people who already feel like a burden.

“For disabled and terminally ill people, the cost of getting this wrong is not measured in pounds – it is measured in lives.”

Lord Falconer said: “It’s disappointing that a lot of money was spent failing to reach any conclusions in the Lords.

“If we had gone about things in the normal way, we could have got through the whole Bill in the Lords in the time it actually took us to get only halfway through the process.

“We didn’t, only because a small minority of peers filibustered by putting down thousands of amendments and talking the Bill out.”