Esther Rantzen defends Starmer’s silence on assisted dying debate

Dame Esther Rantzen has defended Sir Keir Starmer for staying silent on how he plans to vote on the assisted dying bill on Friday.

With the vote teetering on a knife edge, the prime minister has faced criticism for refusing to reveal his stance - despite high profile interventions from ministers including Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood.

Sir Keir has confirmed he will vote, but not yet whether he will support Kim Leadbeater’s bill.

But Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and has argued strongly for a change in the law, has defended the prime minister;s decision not to reveal how he will vote.

Asked whether she would have wanted to hear more from the PM, Dame Esther said: “I think he did the right thing. I think he said this was not a political issue... This is a personal issue of conscience, and I think he is taking it very seriously.”

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The broadcaster highlighted Sir Keir’s previous support for assisted dying based on his experience as director of public prosecutions with families being investigated for helping relatives end their lives.

She told LBC: “I don’t understand how anyone can support the current law, and I believe Sir Keir doesn’t support it himself, but I think he’s right to make sure that it’s a personal view and a personal decision.”

And she hit back at claims by 11-time Paralympic gold medallist Tanni Grey-Thompson, who told The Independent last week the assisted dying bill would open the floodgates to abuse.

In an interview this month, the crossbench peer and disability rights campaigner said the laws could in time be stretched to include people with disabilities.

“I have been told in the building [Parliament], ‘if my life was like yours I would kill myself’. I’m like ‘wow! I’ve had a really good life,” she said.

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But Dame Esther said: “It’s terrible that disabled people should think, even for a moment, that this would make them qualify to ask for assisted dying or be pressured into it… it’s dreadful, awful, tragic that disabled people should even consider that this applies to them.”

Discussing her own terminal illness and end of life plans, Dame Esther told LBC: “I don’t expect to live long enough to see a change in the law which would mean that I could die here in my home surrounded by loved ones.

“If my life gets unbearable, I will have to go to Switzerland alone without them to protect them from being investigated by the police.”

Her intervention came as David Cameron came out in favour of the assisted dying bill ahead of Friday’s vote. Having previously opposed assisted dying legislation, Lord Cameron said Ms Leadbeater’s proposal contained “sufficient safeguards” to prevent vulnerable people being pressured into taking their own lives.

Lord Cameron – who opposed previous moves to legalise assisted dying – added: “Will this law lead to a meaningful reduction in human suffering?

“I find it very hard to argue that the answer to this question is anything other than ‘yes’.”

He continued: “If this Bill makes it to the House of Lords, I will be voting for it.”

Ms Leadbeater has described her bill as the most robust in the world, with “three layers of scrutiny” in the form of a sign-off by two doctors and a High Court judge. It would also make coercion an offence with a possible punishment of 14 years in jail.

Under the legislation, which covers England and Wales, only terminally ill adults with under six months left to live and a settled wish to die would be eligible.

Ms Leadbeater said that opponents of plans to legalise assisted dying “mustn’t be hearing” the stories of the terminally ill. She called for the debate to focus on “the problem we have to fix” rather than “who in the cabinet has fallen out with who else in the cabinet”.