Assisted dying bill gets second reading in Lords, but with peers also setting up select committee to review it – as it happened

Luciana Berger speaks during the debate on the assisted dying bill. Photograph: Parliament TV/PA

4.51pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, has said new measures aiming to deal with crimes committed during the Troubles will address the “unfinished business” of the peace agreement struck 27 years ago. The two main parties in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin and the DUP, have both said they want to look at the plans closely before giving a full response. Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader, said:

For 25 years the Irish government have wilfully failed to provide answers for innocent victims of terrorism and their families. In today’s statement, there is no acknowledgement of the pain or hurt this has caused.

For many victims and survivors, it will be a case of ‘too little, too late’ and any clamour to embrace new legislative or financial commitments pledged by Dublin should be tempered by this reality.

But Robinson was less negative than he was in comments before the plans were published, when he he said it was “outrageous” that the UK government was “allowing dual control of our legacy policy to the Irish government”. Benn and Simon Harris, the Irish deputy PM, both rejected this claim at their press conference. (See 2.23pm and 2.24pm.) BBC Northern Ireland has more reaction in a live blog here.

• Peers have given the assisted dying bill a second reading – while also voting to set up a select committee to review it. (See 2.17pm and 3.57pm.)

• Ministers are a step closer to abandoning the two-child benefit cap after Downing Street’s preferred candidate to be Labour’s deputy leader said the policy was “spiteful” and had “punished and pushed children into hardship”.

• The Green party’s membership has jumped by more than 1,000 people in a day after a public split between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana cast doubt on the viability of the pair’s new leftwing party.

• Reform UK has suspended one of its councillors as the party investigates him over alleged online comments about wanting to kill Keir Starmer.

• Jamie Hepburn, a Scottish government minister, has quit his job after being accused of assaulting the former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross outside the Holyrood chamber. (See 4.13pm.)

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Updated at 4.52pm BST

4.22pm BST

Sinn Féin says it needs to study 'fine detail' of Troubles legacy plan

Sinn Féin has issued a relatively non-committal response to the government’s new Troubles legacy plans, saying it needs to look at the details. Mary Lou McDonald, the party’s president, said:

Since the Tories imposed the callous Legacy Act, Sinn Féin has been clear that it must be repealed by this Labour government. We have always been of the firm view that progress on dealing with the legacy of the past can only be made when it commands the confidence of victims and survivors impacted by the conflict and be fully compliant with international human rights standards.

Sinn Féin will now take time to carefully consider the proposed agreement announced by the governments today. We will scrutinise the fine detail provided and urge that the underpinning legislation is published without delay. We will engage with victims’ families, those advocacy groups, legal and human rights practitioners who work with them.

Any legislation yet to be published which will underpin these proposals will be indicative of whether the British ggovernment is in fact serious about delivering in good faith on its commitments to ‘repeal and replace’ the Legacy Act, and deal with the British state’s role during the conflict.