Dame Esther Rantzen pleads to Sir Keir Starmer for vote on assisted dying after he vowed commitment to issue
13 September 2024, 16:39
Dame Esther Rantzen has appealed to the Prime Minister to make time for Parliament to debate and vote freely on assisted dying.
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Dame Esther had a phone call with Sir Keir Starmer before the Labour leader became PM, in which he vowed his commitment on the issue.
She said the current law was “cruel” and warned that without change, she along with many others could face a “bad death”.
The broadcaster's latest comments come after a majority of members in a public panel backed assisted suicide.
The 84-year-old Childline founder has been a prominent figure in pushing for the law change and revealed in December she has joined the Swiss Dignitas clinic as she lives with terminal cancer.
Dame Esther said without a law change, their families would have to face police questioning and possible prosecution if they accompanied their ill relatives to the clinic.
Assisting someone to end their life is currently a criminal offence in England and Wales.
Speaking to Sky News, Dame Esther said: “What we're hoping for is proper time to discuss the issues, have the free vote and change this cruel law.
“I call it cruel, because not only at the moment does it mean that I've got to have a bad death, if that's what the cancer creates for me, but my family can't be with me if I decide to go to Dignitas.
“Because otherwise they are liable to being accused of killing me and they get investigated by the police, so that's just messy and wrong and not what we want.
“So, please Sir Keir, remember our conversation and let's make time for this. It really is a matter of life and death.”
Dame Esther said she was “quietly” and “just gently” reminding Sir Keir.
She added: “Dear Sir Keir, whom I've met and have worked with, could you possibly recall your kind words to me and make it come true?”
She said that while the results of the public panel “didn't surprise” her, she highlighted it was important to keep the issue “at the top of the agenda” because “events happen, politicians forget, they take other things as their priority”.
The Prime Minister previously said he is “personally in favour of changing the law” and supported a change when the issue was last voted on in the Commons nine years ago.
Earlier this month, Labour's Jake Richards signalled his intention to bring forward a proposed law by private member's Bill while former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer of Thoroton has introduced the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill in the House of Lords that is expected to be debated in November.
Read more: Keir Starmer says he ‘makes no apologies’ ahead of key vote to axe cash for pensioners
The director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which put the public panel together, said the panel's decision provides “the missing piece of evidence” in the debate.
Danielle Hamm told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “This is the missing piece of evidence and it's the missing piece because it provides that really deep nuance around people's judgments and why people have reached that decision, and it gives policymakers the information they need to really fully understand where the British public's attitudes lies.”
Of the 28 jury members, 20 agreed that the law should change after eight weeks of deliberation with stopping pain and giving people dignity cited as some of the main reasons for support.
Although, it was stressed that anyone using an assisted dying service should be terminally ill and able to make the decision to end their life.
Those against it warned that it could be used for the wrong reasons, misinterpreted, misused, and could result in less funding for palliative care.
In April, campaigners and celebrities gathered in Westminster to show their support for an assisted dying law, after a petition gained more than 200,000 signatures and was promoted by Dame Esther.
A Government spokesperson said: “Successive governments have taken the view that any change to the law in this sensitive area is a matter for Parliament to decide.
“This Government has made clear that time will be provided for a proper debate and vote on any legislation brought forward.”
