Closing summary
That’s all from us on the UK politics blog, thanks for following along. Here is a recap of the day’s events:
A proposed bill to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives will not become law, after the House of Lords ran out of time to debate the more than 1,280 amendments tabled by opponents. With the parliamentary session coming to an end next week, the bill will fail.
Downing Street said the UK’s position on the Falklands is resolute and unchanging, after a leaked Pentagon internal email proposed the US should reassess its support for Britain’s claim to the islands because of a lack of support over Iran.
Party leaders were united on the issue, with the Conservative’s Kemi Badenoch describing the US stance was “absolute nonsense”, while Nigel Farage said he would raise the issue personally with Argentina president Javier Milei.
The issue is likely to cause further tensions as King Charles prepares to visit the US next week. But Downing Street insisted the state visit will “showcase the very best of the UK-US bilateral relationship”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the king’s visit to the US should be cancelled. “The state visit should clearly be pulled – this unreliable, damaging president [Donald Trump] cannot keep insulting our country.”
In Scotland, the Green party leader Zack Polanski has voiced his support for Scottish independence. “I think there’s something unstoppable about a movement happening in this country,” he said.
Polanski also called for Trump to be stripped of his Scottish golf courses over his actions internationally. The US president owns two golf resorts north of the border, in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire, but the Green leader has called on the UK government to sanction him.
The UK criminal investigation into Peter Mandelson has reportedly ground to a halt after the US justice department refused to hand over evidence contained in the Epstein files. While the Met has asked for voluntary disclosure, the US department of justice is insisting on a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request, a legal back and forth between countries to obtain evidence, the Telegraph has reported.
Downing Street said Keir Starmer will stay on as prime minister “throughout this parliament and beyond”, as he faced calls to quit amid the fallout from the Mandelson vetting scandal. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “He’s very focused on the job.”
Updated
As the debate came to a close, former justice secretary Charlie Falconer, who sponsored the assisted dying bill in the Lords, described the process as “horrible”, saying it had not failed to finish its journey through the Lords due to a lack of time, but rather “because a small minority were not willing to cooperate, as we normally do, to ensure that there can be proportionate debate”.
Campaigners have said they could use the Parliament Act to get the bill through if it was selected.
That act, a rarely used piece of legislation, allows for bills that have been backed by the Commons in two successive sessions but rejected by peers to pass into law without Lords approval.
Falconer told peers: “It is clear that the issue will not go away, nor should it, until it is resolved. Parliament can and must come to a decision. It is now for the other place to decide what we do next.”
He had said earlier that he was “despondent that this bill, so important to so many, has not failed on its merit, but failed as a result of procedural wrangling.”
