Senior opponents of assisted dying bill urge Lords not to deliberately block it

The letter says delays risk ‘setting a precedent which would undoubtedly increase the calls for a radical reform of the House of Lords sooner rather than later’. Photograph: House of Lords/UK Parliament/PA

Senior opponents of assisted dying legislation have called on peers not to hold up the progress of the bill through parliament, warning there was a serious danger of the Lords losing democratic legitimacy.

Many supporters now admit the bill is in serious danger of running out of time in the Lords before the end of the parliamentary session, meaning it will fail to pass, because of the slow pace of considering more than 1,000 amendments means the bill will probably run out of time for a vote.