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Order. Order.

Hello, I'm Alicia McCarthy, and this is the Today in Parliament podcast from BBC Radio 4 for Friday the 12th of September, where debate begins again on the assisted dying bill.

A peer says for some, it's about alleviating fear or bringing to an end the terrible and continuing loss of dignity

and loss of control which has no end except in death.

But a former Prime Minister opposes the bill.

Suicide is not okay. Suicide is wrong. This bill is wrong. And in my opinion, it should not pass.

Also on this programme, MPs begin investigating the state of England's housing and a call for the government to fix the delays in the family courts.

There are 4,000 children who are involved in cases which have been taking more than 100 weeks

to settle in the court system. But first, there have been heartfelt and passionate speeches in the

Lords as the bill which would allow terminally ill people to end their lives was debated by peers

for the first time. The legislation was passed

by MPs in June and is now beginning its passage through the Second Chamber. Under the plans,

adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live would be able to ask for an

assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel. The legislation is being

steered through the Lords by a Labour former Lord Chancellor, Lord Faulkner. Opening the debate,

he said it was an historic occasion. The current law is confused, causes terrible suffering

and lacks compassion and safeguards. People must be at the heart of this debate.

The government's own estimate is that if the law was changed to introduce assisted dying,

less than 1% of deaths would be assisted after 10 years.

He argued palliative care couldn't alleviate pain in all cases. Some people wanted to

end a loss of control and dignity, and if a patient wanted to take their life, they had to do it without

...