Assisted dying returns to parliament as MP urges peers to 'finish the job'

A fresh attempt to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales has been launched, with the MP behind the plan telling the BBC she wanted to "finish the job".

Lauren Edwards, the Labour MP for Rochester and Strood, said she would bring an identical bill to the one passed by the Commons last year.

That bill, brought by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, was not passed by the House of Lords in April after an unprecedented number of suggested amendments delayed its progress until it ran out of time.

Its opponents argued it had substantial flaws that risked vulnerable people being pressured into ending their lives early.

The proposed law - known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - would have allowed people over the age of 18 who were expected to die within six months to be given help to end their own life, subject to certain safeguards.

By bringing exactly the same legislation, Edwards is threatening to trigger rarely used powers to override peers' objections should they refuse to pass it again.

Bills usually only become law if both Houses of Parliament agree on its final wording.

But the powers under the Parliament Act, which have only been used seven times in the last century, mean that if MPs pass an identical bill in two consecutive parliamentary sessions, peers cannot block it a second time.