Unelected Lords are blocking assisted dying – this is a democratic outrage

Second chambers are a good idea, but they should not be able to overturn clear decisions reached by an elected body

If ever a British institution needed assistance in dying, it is the House of Lords. Its handling of the assisted dying bill on Friday of last week, continuing this week, is all but unconstitutional. A bill passed by the House of Commons after years of public debate is being blocked by a small group of peers under the pretence of scrutiny. Their purpose is to kill the bill by filibuster and impose their religious or moral views on the free will of others. They want to deny Britons a freedom now common in many liberal nations across the western world.

When the bill came to the Lords, just seven peers were responsible for 630 of 1,047 amendments now attached to it. They includ