Keir Starmer has informed Dame Esther Rantzen that he desires to vary the regulation on assisted dying if he turns into Prime Minister.
The Labour chief dedicated to holding a free vote in Parliament inside 5 years if he wins the normal election later this 12 months. Speaking to the TV legend Dame Esther, 83, in a telephone name filmed by ITV News, the Labour chief informed her: “I’m personally in favour of adjusting the regulation. I feel we have to make time. We will make the dedication. Esther, I can provide you that dedication proper now.”
When pressed by ITV News on whether he’d like a vote to take place in the next Parliament, Mr Starmer replied: “Oh yes, definitely. I think Esther would agree with this. For people who are going through this or are likely to go through it in the next few months or years, this matters hugely and delay just prolongs the agony.”
Dame Esther sparked a national conversation on the issue when she revealed she had stage 4 lung cancer last year. She has previously said she is considering going to the Swiss assisted-dying clinic Dignitas if a “miracle” drug fails to treat her condition. According to figures from Dignitas over 500 UK citizens have ended their lives there between 1998 and 2022 – around 15% of all deaths registered at the clinic.
Speaking to the BBC in February Dame Esther said her own death is “always in my thoughts”. She said: “It would give me a lot confidence if I may additionally know that nonetheless the sickness progresses, no matter ache it causes, wherever it strikes me subsequent, I’ll nonetheless have the alternatives of a ache free, dignified non-public loss of life surrounded by the folks I really like.
(
PA)
“I’m not demanding that everybody in the world agrees with me, I’m just saying let’s debate all the issues now that we’ve got international evidence and we know the public attitude is in favour.”
Mr Starmer additionally stated it was potential to introduce safeguards to guard weak folks. He stated: “Firstly, I think the debate has to be conducted with respect. I personally think the law should be changed. There will be people equally passionate, with powerful points to make about why it shouldn’t be.”
Mr Starmer, who was Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013, added:“When I consulted on this for the prosecutor’s tips, the church buildings and religion teams and others have been very, very highly effective within the arguments they made.
“We have to respect that and find the right balance in the end. I do think most people coalesce around the idea that there is a case [for assisted dying] where it is obviously compassionate, it is the settled intent of the individual, and there are safeguards with teeth to protect the vulnerable.”
MPs last voted on the issue almost a decade ago but the bid to allow doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives was defeated in the Commons. A poll for The Mirror earlier this year found a clear majority of the public (71%) support assisted dying being made legal in the UK. A separate survey by ITV published today shows 75% back a change in the law.
But Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, 54, has previously warned against a change in the law. Baroness Grey-Thompson expressed sympathy with Dame Esther in January but she said there would be “actually large penalties if we modify the regulation”. She said she was “actually fearful that disabled folks, due to the price of well being and social care, as a result of that is being eliminated, that alternative is then taken away so the one alternative they’ve is to finish their lives”.
Groups such as Care Not Killing also argue changing the law could place pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial or emotional burden. Chief Executive of the group Dr Gordon Macdonald said: “Changing the law to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia in the UK would represent a dramatic change in how doctors and nurses treat and care for people and put the lives of the vulnerable, terminally ill and disabled people at risk. Indeed, these dangers are particularly acute when the health service is crumbling, hospices are underfunded and one in every four people who would benefit from palliative can’t access it.”
MPs must grapple with the delicate subject of assisted dying if there may be one other vote. A Commons inquiry final month stated the truth that folks with opposing views draw on examples around the globe to assist their argument “shows the complexity of the issue”. It highlighted two “distinct models” in international locations the place some type of assisted dying is authorized. These embody restricted assisted dying to simply these with a terminal sickness, or including provisions for “unbearable suffering”.