Esther Rantzen Says Peers' 'Blatant Sabotage' as Assisted Dying Bill Faces Collapse — Greens Lead in Gorton and Denton By-election

esther rantzen has accused some peers of "blatant sabotage" as an assisted dying bill that passed the House of Commons looks likely to fail in the House of Lords because there is insufficient extra debate time; at the same time, voting in the Gorton and Denton by-election has finished and it is looking like the Green candidate is in the lead with a declaration expected around 4am.

Esther Rantzen and the stalled assisted dying bill

The assisted dying legislation was proposed by backbench MP Kim Leadbeater and was backed by a majority in the House of Commons. The bill did not have government sponsorship, but No 10 allowed a "free vote" of MPs and it was not whipped. After passing the Commons, the bill has struggled in the House of Lords.

Why the assisted dying bill faces block in the Lords

A small number of opponents in the Lords have laid down so many amendments that the bill will not be voted on in time to clear the current parliamentary session, which ends in May. There are less than six days left for debate. The Labour whip in the House of Lords, Roy Kennedy, told a parliamentary committee that the government would not give the bill any more time because there are only a limited number of sitting Fridays left. Extending the parliamentary session would have been an extraordinary step the government could have taken to help the bill through, but it was not pursued.

Parliamentary options next session

MPs are expected to try again in the new parliamentary session with another backbench bill. Leadbeater and Charles Falconer have taken advice on forcing the legislation through next time using an archaic parliamentary procedure. The high-stakes move, described by some backers as the "nuclear option, " would be the first time the 1911 Parliament Act has been invoked for a private member's bill. Backers say they have extensive legal and constitutional advice that would allow the Commons to force peers to vote on the bill unamended in the next session.

Arguments and precedent around Lords tactics

Opponents in the Lords have felt emboldened to frustrate the bill because it was not sponsored by the government and was not part of the Labour manifesto, which some peers say means the Commons did not have an electoral mandate for the change. Supporters of the bill argue that peers are subverting the primacy of the Commons, while opponents say the Lords are exercising scrutiny and doing their job. The Parliament Act allows the Commons to reintroduce and force legislation through if the Lords repeatedly block it; since its 1949 revision it has been used only for a handful of bills, including measures to decriminalise homosexuality and to ban foxhunting. After the session ends, the bill must be reintroduced and passed again in the new session to trigger the Act's override mechanism, and it must be exactly the same version as passed by the Commons. There are two ways to invoke the Parliament Act: a supporter can adopt it at the next private member's bill ballot, or the government can give the bill time to return to the Commons. Supporters contend it is undemocratic for peers to effectively block the legislation.

Gorton and Denton by-election: Greens appear to lead

Voting has finished in the Gorton and Denton by-election and officials appear to be waiting for all the candidates before making a declaration. Observers expect the result sometime around 4am. Eleven candidates stood in the contest, though only Labour, Reform UK and the Green Party were seen as realistically in contention. It is looking like the Green candidate, Hannah Spencer, is in the lead. Green Party leader Zack Polanski is expected to arrive back at the Manchester count centre shortly, and a Green source said they were "very confident of a win. " Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin has just arrived at the count.

Key numbers and candidate backgrounds in Gorton and Denton

• Hannah Spencer (Green): a plumber training to become a plasterer; elected to Trafford council in 2023; in the Greater Manchester mayoral contest in 2024 she won almost 46, 000 votes but finished fifth of six candidates; at the last general election she contested Warrington North and again placed fifth of six.
• Matt Goodwin (Reform UK): a former academic at the University of Kent who previously studied at the University of Salford; a political scientist who has written extensively on right-wing populist movements; in recent years he has developed a following through independent newsletter platforms and social media and is a presenter at a broadcaster.
• Angeliki Stogia (Labour): a councillor for Whalley Range ward on Manchester City Council since 2012; at the last general election she stood in the Conservative-held seat of Chester South and Eddisbury, where she secured a 16-point swing against the Conservatives but lost by a margin of over three thousand; she also stood on the North West regional list for the 2014 European Union elections.

Vote swings, polling and historic context

Both the Greens and Reform UK require a similar level of vote swing to win the seat from Labour: Reform need a gain of 18. 4 percentage points from Labour, while the Greens require 18. 8 points. Neither party is currently achieving that level of swing at the national level; national polling places the swing from Labour to Reform at 14. 7 points and the swing from Labour to the Greens at 15 points, a near neck-and-neck position. A Green by-election victory would be historic: the Greens' best previous by-election performance was in Somerton and Frome in 2023, when they received a vote share of 10. 2%, and they would likely need to triple that share to win tonight. Reform's recent by-election successes include a best performance at Runcorn and Helsby in May last year, when Reform's Sarah Pochin gained the seat from Labour. The Green Party leader has described Labour's criticism of their drugs policy as "vile. "

Both stories remain fluid: the assisted dying bill faces procedural obstacles that may be revisited in the next parliamentary session, and the Gorton and Denton result is still expected to be declared around 4am as officials complete the count.