Assisted dying and the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) BillRolling news and progress in Parliament

Stay informed with updates and analysis on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as it moves through Parliament. Read here

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News / Parliament Matters Bulletin: What’s coming up in Parliament this week? 1-5 September 2025

Four Cabinet ministers will face questions in the Commons on pressing issues, including Gaza, the Chagos Islands, people smuggling, grooming gangs, employment numbers and rising water bills. In the Lords, peers will scrutinise the Government’s approach to the Palestinian Territories, gilt yields and implementation of the Football Governance Act 2025. MPs will debate three bills while peers take up four more, alongside four Commons Private Members’ Bills. On the committee corridor, Jesse Norman, Shabana Mahmood and Alex Chalk give evidence, while the new Bishop of Coventry, Sophie Jelley, is introduced to the House of Lords. ❓ We value your thoughts. Please click here to let us know what you think of the Parliament Matters Bulletin in our reader survey.

Careers / Treasurer and Trustees

We are currently recruiting for a new Treasurer and three new Trustees to join our Board. If you have experience in financial management, fundraising, digital communications and stakeholder partnerships we particularly want to hear from you!

Briefings / Delegated powers in the assisted dying bill: Issues for the attention of the House of Lords

Like many pieces of primary legislation, the assisted dying bill leaves much of the practical and policy detail to be worked out later by Ministers through regulations. After the Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Commons, we published a briefing which drew attention to two of its delegated powers. But since then the Bill has been heavily amended, prompting new questions: how have its delegated powers evolved, do these changes strengthen or weaken the approach to the delegation of ministerial power, and are further amendments needed and if so, why?

News / Prime Minister's Questions: Westminster's weekly gladiatorial combat - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 104

Every Wednesday at noon, the House of Commons chamber comes alive with Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), the loudest, most theatrical half-hour in British politics. To some it’s democratic accountability; to others, a raucous playground of yah-boo antics. Loved and loathed in equal measure, PMQs is Parliament’s weekly shop window, offering a revealing glimpse of how Britain does politics. In this episode, we explore its history, purpose, and international impact, including why France briefly trialled it last year only to drop the idea. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.

News / Assisted dying bill: Special series #15 - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 103

On Friday 12 September, the House of Lords will debate the Bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. We explore what lies ahead for the Bill in the Upper House with Sir David Beamish, former Clerk of the Parliaments – the Lords’ most senior official. Sharing an insider’s guide to the Chamber’s unique, self-regulating procedures, Sir David explains how the legislative process differs from the Commons, and what that could mean for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill’s potentially long and contested passage. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.

News / Parliament gagged by super-injunction? A conversation with Joshua Rozenberg - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 101

Submissions / Parliamentary scrutiny of treaties - Our evidence to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee

Submissions / Status and rights of independent MPs in Parliament – Our evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee

Submissions / Evidence to the House of Commons Modernisation Committee: Priorities and strategic aims

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Acts of Parliament in the Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Westminster. (© UK Parliament / Parliamentary Archives)

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Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, 18 October 2023. ©UK Parliament / Andy Bailey

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The Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, at Prime Minister's Questions, 13 December 2023. ©UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED]

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Blog

Blog / What role does Parliament play in the Spending Review?

The UK Spending Review outlines how Government funds will be allocated over several years. Unlike the Budget, which raises revenue, the Review decides how it is spent. But how is it approved? What role does Parliament play if it doesn’t vote on the Review itself? This blog explores how the Spending Review works, how it differs from the Budget, and how Parliament holds the Government to account through the Estimates process.

Blog / The Planning and Infrastructure Bill: What happens when detail is deferred?

The Hansard Society has long raised concerns about the Government's increasing tendency to present undeveloped legislation that lacks detailed policy and grants ministers broad delegated powers to fill in the gaps later. This practice undermines effective parliamentary scrutiny, by preventing MPs and Peers from fully assessing how powers may be used, (or misused), in the future. The weak system for overseeing delegated legislation—especially in the Commons—exacerbates the problem. Several powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently before Parliament highlight these ongoing issues.

Blog / Breaching the 0.7% international aid target: a case study in legislative failure

The Prime Minister’s plan to cut international aid breaches the Government’s legal duty to meet the 0.7% spending target, raising constitutional concerns. Should an Act allow for premeditated non-compliance? Can a statutory duty imposed on Government by Parliament be overturned by a ministerial statement? And when a law’s purpose is abandoned, should it be amended or repealed? The fate of this Act exposes the flaws in declaratory legislation, weak parliamentary scrutiny, and executive dominance of Parliament.

Blog / Six things we learnt from the 2024 election of select committee members

Following a series of internal parliamentary party elections, the House of Commons nominated the members of its select committees last October. But what do the election results tell us about the makeup of the select committees? Are the parties represented proportionally? Are men and women equally represented? How many ethnic minority MPs were elected to committees? What role did parliamentary experience and the size of an MP's majority play?

Blog / Select committee chair elections: what do the results tell us about the new Parliament?

The House of Commons recently held elections for the chairs of its select committees in the new Parliament. But how did this year's elections compare to those of previous years? Were they more competitive? How well were women and ethnic minority MPs represented among the candidates and winners? And what level of parliamentary experience do the newly elected chairs bring to the table?

Blog / MPs and the parliamentary oath of allegiance: A shibboleth under scrutiny?

Blog / Puberty blockers legislation: has the parliamentary calendar undermined accountability?

Blog / How delegated legislation is being used to tackle the prisons crisis

Blog / A House more divided: Practice and procedure in a multipolar Parliament

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Publications

Briefings / Delegated powers in the assisted dying bill: Issues for the attention of the House of Lords

Briefings / Assisted dying bill: what will happen on Friday 20 June?

On Friday 20 June, MPs will cast one of the most important votes of their parliamentary careers: the Third Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. This final vote in the Commons will determine whether the Bill proceeds to the House of Lords. Before reaching that stage, MPs must complete the remaining votes from the Report Stage. This briefing outlines what happened during the last day of Report Stage, identifies which amendments and new clauses may still be voted on, and sets out the expected sequence of events for the day, including the proceedings for Third Reading.

Briefings / Assisted dying bill: what will happen on Friday 13 June?

On Friday 13 June, the House of Commons will once again debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. Specifically, it will hold a second day of Report Stage, during which the whole House will debate and vote on amendments. This briefing explains the structure of Report Stage, what happened on the first day of Report Stage, how amendments are selected and grouped, on which amendments a decision can still be taken, and the likely sequence of events this Friday, including whether a final vote will take place.

Submissions / Parliamentary scrutiny of treaties - Our evidence to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee

Our evidence on treaty scrutiny has been published by the House of Lords International Agreements Committee. Our submission outlines the problems with the existing framework for treaty scrutiny and why legislative and cultural change are needed to improve Parliament's scrutiny role. Our evidence joins calls for a parliamentary consent vote for the most significant agreements, a stronger role for Parliament in shaping negotiating mandates and monitoring progress, and a sifting committee tasked with determining which agreements warrant the greatest scrutiny.

Submissions / Framework legislation and Henry VIII powers: Our evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee 2025

The Hansard Society provided written evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee as part of its inquiry into framework legislation and Henry VIII powers. Our Director subsequently gave oral evidence to the Committee on XXX. Our written evidence and a transcript of the oral evidence session are included on this page. Our evidence argued that

Briefings / Assisted dying - The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Rolling news

Submissions / Status and rights of independent MPs in Parliament – Our evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee

Submissions / Evidence to the House of Commons Modernisation Committee: Priorities and strategic aims

Briefings / The assisted dying bill: How does the amendment process work?

Journal

Journal / The evolution of election campaigning: Insights from Parliamentary Affairs

How have election campaign strategies evolved over the past 15 years to shape today's political landscape? This special collection of articles from our journal, Parliamentary Affairs, highlights the increasing sophistication and personalisation of national and constituency-level campaigns. It explores how political parties target key voter groups, leverage constituency visits from party leaders for electoral gains, and increasingly rely on digital campaigning.

Journal / Parliamentary Affairs call for papers: Special section on the state of British politics in 2024/5

This call for papers is for a special section of Parliamentary Affairs on the state of British politics in 2024/5. It will identify the key institutions, issues and challenges that need to be addressed by any new Government taking over in 2025, following the general election expected at the end of 2024.

Journal / Marking 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement – Parliamentary Affairs special collection

To mark 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, we have curated a special collection of articles from our journal Parliamentary Affairs. The articles cover a range of themes, from devolution and the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly to peacebuilding, consociation and women's rights.

Journal / Marking 20 years since Parliament approved military action in Iraq – Parliamentary Affairs special collection

To mark 20 years since the House of Commons voted to approve military action in Iraq on 18 March 2003, we have curated a special collection of articles from our journal Parliamentary Affairs. The articles cover a range of themes from the Hutton Inquiry and the Iraq Dossier to war powers and the Government's use of secret intelligence.

Journal / Parliamentary Affairs 75th Anniversary special collection on House of Lords reform

To mark the Parliamentary Affairs 75th Anniversary Lecture, delivered by the Speaker of the House of Lords on the topic of reform of the Upper House, we have curated a special collection of articles from the journal archives, exploring Lords reform from unique perspectives and different historical contexts since the journal's inaugural issue in December 1947.